India’s Covid-19 active case count has decreased to 36,18,458, while the daily positivity rate dropped to 16.98 per cent, the Union health ministry said on Sunday. The Union Health Ministry said, “A declining trend in the positivity rate is also observed which has dropped to 16.98 per cent (May 16) from 24.47 per cent recorded on May 3.” Bharat Biotech on Sunday said its COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ has been found to be effective against coronavirus strains found in India and the UK.
Although amidst this, a tampered screenshot of media outlet Inshorts’ news update is being circulated with a claim that a Christian couple in Kerala refused to take an ambulance that carried Lord Hanuman’s sticker on it and that the couple later died. The summary of the report said, “In a bizarre incident, M Stalin and his wife Jaycee who were gasping for oxygen refused an ambulance when they saw a saffron Hanuman sticker on the vehicle. According to eyewitnesses, they passed away shaking within minutes of each other.”
The screenshot credits the information to Hindustan Times, with the headline that reads, “Kerala couple refused ambulance with Hanuman sticker, dies.” The screenshot mentions that a Christian couple named M Stalin and his wife Jaycee refused the ambulance trying to give it a communal overtone. This incident was tweeted with the caption which when translated reads, “They are so disgusted with your veneration.”
A spokesperson from Inshorts stated that the screenshots were fake and no such piece was published on their platform. He clarified the incident by quoting, “This is fake, we have not published any such article as in this screenshot. The image has been doctored.”
On conducting a reverse image search based on the viral screenshots, it led to a post by Hindustan Times from 10th May, 2021. There the same image was shared with a caption, “Family members and undertakers carry the body of a victim who died of the Covid-19 coronavirus at an open-air crematorium set up for the coronavirus victims inside a defunct granite quarry on the outskirts of Bangalore on May 8, 2021, as India recorded more than 4,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)”
Furthermore, the caption along with the image is credited to AFP, mentioned that it was captured in Bengaluru on 8 May and showed family members and undertakers carrying a victim’s body who died of coronavirus. The AFP image is available on Getty images as well, along with several other images from the same location.
Also, while comparing the viral screenshot with original Inshorts news update available on its app it was found that the two didn’t look exactly the same. For instance, in the original screenshot, the colour of text as compared to the headline is lighter, however, in the viral image, no such difference can be seen.
The state on Saturday reported 32,680 positive cases of Covid-19 taking the number of patients to 4,45,334.
To date, 16,66,232 persons have recovered from coronavirus in the state, including 29,442 on the day. After 1,22,628 samples were tested in a 24-hour period, the state’s test positivity rate (TPR) was 26.65%. A total of 1,78,12,355 samples have been tested in the state so far.
Meanwhile, 96 recent deaths were confirmed as Covid-19-related taking the toll to 6,340. Among the new cases, 29,969 were infected through local contacts while 2,316 cases were of unknown sources. Thus, the viral news is shared with a false communal aspect and the image is certainly doctored.
