Fact Check: Ministry of tourism didn't ask hotels to remain closed till Oct 15

Hyderabad: Coronavirus cases in India as of April 21 have touched 19,985, with Maharashtra being the most affected, having crossed the 5,000 mark on Wednesday. Due to the increasing cases Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased the lockdown till May 3 across the country. Since March 23 all the hotels and other tourist destinations have also been shut. Amidst this, an order of the ministry of tourism is going viral on social media.

It claims, "Hotels, restaurants, resorts all over India will remain closed till 15 October 2020 due to coronavirus disease spread all over the world."

Fact Check:

The press note is fake. "The ministry of tourism has not announced anything officially. It took to twitter saying, Cyber Crime Unit; Mumbai police has initiated investigation into fake news being circulated in @tourismgoi's name. Respective authorities will take action against guilty individuals, including but not limited to initiation of criminal proceedings under relevant laws. (SIC)"

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Press Information Bureau (PIB) which is running a twitter channel to burst fake news amid coronavirus lockdown also clarified that no such order has been issued by the ministry of tourism.

Moreover, ministry of tourism publishes all its press releases on the official website, with a release ID and it is usually shared via PIB to other media channels and to the public.

While going through the website it was also noticed that, the ministry doesn't use logo in public documents. In it is simply mentioned ministry of tourism.

Claim – Hotels, Restaurants and resorts to be closed till Oct 15

Claims by – Posts by twitter users

Fact Check – False

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