PNB Staff Test Positive for COVID-19? Video Taken Out of Context
Loni SDM clarified that four employees have tested positive for coronavirus and not all of them, as claimed.
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A viral video on social media claimed that all the employees of Punjab National Bank in Ghaziabad’s Loni tested positive for coronavirus after one of them stood in a queue for alcohol. The video shows several people coming out of the bank and being taken in an ambulance.
However, Loni’s Sub-Divisional Magistrate Khalid Anjum told The Quint that four employees of the bank tested positive for coronavirus and the incident took place nearly ten days back, which was before liquor shops were allowed to open. He also added that the people seen in the video were being taken to a quarantine facility.
CLAIM
The claim in Hindi reads, “लोनी गाजियाबाद मैं पंजाब नेशनल बैंक का पूरा स्टाफ कोरोना पॉजिटिव पाया गया शराब की लाइन मैं लगकर वर्कर ने ली थी शराब पूरे स्टाफ के लिए।”
[Translation: In Loni, Ghaziabad, the entire staff of Punjab National Bank have tested positive for coronavirus. A worker brought alcohol for the entire staff after standing in a queue.]
Several social media users have shared the video on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.
The Quint received a query on the claim being made in the video on its WhatsApp helpline.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Khalid Anjum, Loni’s sub-divisional magistrate told The Quint that 17 people were quarantined after four employees, including the branch manager, tested positive for coronavirus. He further added that others have tested negative.
Loni SHO Vijendra Bhadana, too, corroborated the aforementioned details and mentioned that the said branch of Punjab National Bank has been sealed. He also stated that the video does not have any link with people standing in queues outside liquor shops as claimed.
Speaking to The Quint, he said, “This video was shot around ten days back. The liquor shops opened this week (4 May). The four employees getting infected has got nothing to do with anybody standing in the queue outside a liquor shop.”
It is thus clear that the viral video falsely claimed that all the employees of Punjab National Bank’s Loni branch have tested positive for coronavirus.
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