Fact Check: PM Modi has not announced national lockdown
Social media users are claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced lockdown ahead of the anticipated third wave of COVID-19.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 4 Aug 2021 1:18 PM IST
Hyderabad: Social media users are claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced lockdown ahead of the anticipated third wave of COVID-19.
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Fact Check
The claim is False.
If there would have been any such announcement, it would definitely have been reported by the mainstream media. However, NewsMeter found no reports.
NewsMeter listened to the viral video carefully. There is a call for complete lockdown in Kerala given a spurt in COVID cases. However, it does not say anything about Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing nationwide lockdown.
We performed a keyword search which directed us to a video uploaded on the Facebook page of TV9 Bharatvarsh on July 24, 2021. At 17:23 minute, we can clearly hear the voice-over saying that due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, the lockdown has been imposed in Kerala and only essential services will remain open.
We then compared both the videos with the help of screengrabs extracted from the videos.
According to a report by Economic Times published on July 29, 2021, a complete lockdown has been announced in Kerala by the state government amid rising cases of coronavirus. The lockdown will be in force from July 31 to August 1.
The news of the complete lockdown in Kerala was also reported by the Times of India on July 29, 2021.
It is also to be noted that many state governments including Gujarat, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu have announced to open schools since the number of active cases have come down.
According to a report by Hindustan Times published on July 23, 2021, after the second wave of Covid-19, several state governments have announced to reopen education institutions.
NewsMeter had earlier also debunked a similar claim of PM announcing complete lockdown to combat third COVID wave.
It is therefore evident that the viral claim is False. PM Modi has not announced a complete lockdown in the nation.
