WebQoof Recap: Donald Trump’s Misleading Claim About COVID & More

Here’s a quick round-up of the WhatsApp forwards and fake tweets that misled the public this week.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

From Donald Trump’s misleading claims about COVID-19 only affecting elderly people to misleading claims about ‘Brucellosis’ being a new virus leaked by China, here’s a quick round-up of all that mislead the public this week.

1. No Mr Trump, Coronavirus Doesn’t Just Affect Elderly People

The US President Donald J Trump contradicted his administration’s data and himself while incorrectly claiming that COVID-19 only affects the elderly with health conditions or comorbidities, at a campaign rally on Monday night, 21 September.

However, this statement is in sharp contrast to what Trump had earlier said in an interview to The Washington Post, where he acknowledged the extend of the virus and said that it is impacting “plenty of young people”.

Further the effect of the virus on young people is still being studied, but according to a study by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) data, out of 143,429 deaths, 754 deaths were in the age group of 18-29, while 89 were under the age of 18.

You can read our fact-check here.

2. Fact-Check: Brucellosis is Not a ‘New Virus’ Leaked by China

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, now several thousand people in northwest China have tested positive for Brucellosis, a bacterial disease, the authorities confirmed last week.

Most leading news organisations carried the story with facts around the outbreak. Since the COVID-19 pandemic already has people on edge, some verified, and popular social media handles tried to push a false narrative about the disease being a “new virus”. One such claim was made by Instagram handle “The Tatva India”, which was liked by over 68,000 people.

However, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by bacteria of the Brucella group. It is a disease of animals, mostly domesticated livestock, which spreads to humans when they are in direct contact with the infected animals or consumes untreated meat or dairy.

Read our fact-check here.

3. No, Kangana Ranaut Wasn’t Forced to Vote for Shiv Sena in Polls

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has been hogging the limelight, ever since her spat with Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut snowballed into a massive fight.

In her latest allegation, Ranaut, on a Times Now bulletin with the senior journalist and Group Editor Navika Kumar, claimed that she was “forced” to vote for Shiv Sena, even though she supports the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), because of their alliance.

However, Ranaut’s claims don’t add up. In most of the elections between 2009 to 2019, Shiv Sena and BJP were in an alliance with the only exception of 2014 Assembly elections.

You can read our fact-check here.

4. Did an American City Start a Bus Service in Honour of Ambedkar?

An altered picture of a bus has been going viral on social media, with a poster of Dalit icon and Father of the Indian Constitution Dr BR Ambedkar and his wife, Savita Ambedkar.

An archive of the image can be found here. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

However, the image has been photoshopped and the original image is actually that of a tourist bus in Bath, Somerset, England. This photo was taken by Adrian Pingstone on 28 July 2008.

You can read our fact-check here.

5. Cong Uses Edited Clip to Show Public Cheered for Kamal Nath, Not Shivraj

The Twitter handle of Madhya Pradesh Congress shared a video of state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, asking the public who is a better chief minister between himself and former MP CM and Congress leader Kamal Nath. The video claims to show the audience supporting Nath.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Screenshot/Twitter)

However, the video shared by Congress handle is not an authentic one and has been edited. The live stream of the address aired by BJP handles shows that the public did not coherently yell ‘Kamal Nath.’

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)