Viral Post on ‘Dr Devi Shetty’s 22 Steps Against COVID-19’ is Fake
The post says that Dr Shetty has advised 22 steps to be taken over the next one year to stay safe from COVID-19.
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A post in Bengali, containing a series of 22 measures needed to be taken to avoid contracting coronavirus, allegedly prescribed by Dr Devi Shetty, Founder and Chairman of Narayana Health, is being circulated heavily on social media. However, it is falsely attributed to Dr Shetty and he has not prescribed such measures to be taken in the fight against coronavirus.
CLAIM
The post, written completely in Bengali, says that Dr Shetty has advised 22 steps to be taken in the course of the next one year to stay safe from COVID-19. It further states that these measures are simple and if followed, it would be possible to avoid being infected by coronavirus.
The following are some of the 22 measures stated:
- For the next one year, travelling abroad needs to be halted completely.
- For the next one year, outside food cannot be eaten.
- Weddings or other similar crowded events cannot be attended.
- People need to be very cautious for the next one week.
- People need to be very careful in beauty parlours and salons.
There are many other such measures stated as well, such as a need to avoid shopping malls, cinema halls, parties and parks for the next six months, etc. One of the measures mentioned is also that one should not wear a belt, rings or a watch while outside.
The message is viral on WhatsApp and was sent to The Quint on its helpline by a user requesting clarity.
We also found that the message was viral as a post on Facebook. The post, the screenshot of which is attached above had 1.1k likes and over 700 shares at the time the story was published.
It was also shared by a large number of other Facebook users.
The post was also viral on Twitter.
We also found a number of blogs and Bengali websites sharing the same information, among them a Wordpress blog called Shantibarta, and two Bangladeshi online newspapers called Kaler Kontho and Purboposchimbd.
Another Bangladeshi news portal called Newsbee24 also shared the same information on its website.
All these news articles were dated between 10-11 May.
WHAT WE FOUND
On running searches for news reports about Dr Shetty having prescribed such measures to avoid coronavirus, we found none.
However, we found an article dated 16 March written by Dr Shetty in the Blogs section of The Times of India, titled “Save lives with Social Distancing: How to protect your family from coronavirus, primed to hit India like a bomb”.
In that, he does suggest some steps similar to the ones mentioned in the viral post, but many others, such as specifics like no travelling abroad for a year or no eating out for a year etc were not mentioned in his article.
We also found a video by Dr Shetty wherein he speaks about preventive measures against coronavirus but once again found no similarity with the viral forward.
We also reached out to Dr Devi Shetty himself, who confirmed to The Quint that this post had been fabricated and was being falsely attributed to him. “That’s not mine. I have nothing to do with that,” Dr Shetty said.
Therefore, it is clear that the post is fake and the 22 measures mentioned as preventives against coronavirus have not been prescribed by Dr Shetty.
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