Fact Check: Has Mamta Banerjee announced complete lockdown in West Bengal for August?
Social Media users are sharing a video of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing lockdown in the state for August 2021.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 10 Aug 2021 8:34 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Social Media users are sharing a video of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing lockdown in the state for August 2021.
The video is shared with a caption: "August month lockdown in West Bengal."
The link to the post is here.
Similar posts can be seen here.
Fact Check:
The claim is misleading.
NewsMeter took the help of Google search to know the truth. We wanted to know the status of the lockdown in the state in August 2021.
During the search, we found many reports about the lockdown in West Bengal till August 15, 2021. The news published on Jagran.com said that the Bengal government has announced to extend the existing lockdown restrictions till August 15 with some relaxations (concessions). According to the government notification, the night curfew will remain in place from 9 pm – 5 am. Buses, taxis, auto-rickshaws can operate with 50 percent capacity, and government and private offices can also function with half manpower.
https://wb.gov.in/upload/
Secondly, we found the original video on a YouTube channel `EDUCATIONAL NEWS & UPDATE'. It was uploaded on 28 July 2020.
Similarly, we found the same video on Mamata Banerjee's official Facebook page. On July 28, 2020 press conference, the Chief Minister can be seen announcing the dates for the complete lockdown in August 2020.
The same video was also shared by Facebook users in August 2020.
We also found multiple reports from 2020 confirming the same. The headline of the report by Times Now dated July 28, 2020, read: "Biweekly complete lockdown in West Bengal extended till August 31, festival days exempted."
Moreover, we also found a post by Howrah City Police dated July 28, 2021, where they have clarified that the viral message regarding the dates of the lockdown are false.
"There is no such order of Lockdown in August 2021. All to note this Fake message is being circulated on social media. Verify before trust what is true and what not#FakeNews #SafeHowrahCity #HowrahCityPolice," the post read.
Hence, it is clear that social media posts are misleading.
