FACT CHECK: No, government is not giving Rs 1.5 lakh to municipalities for reporting COVID cases

Hyderabad: A claim that the Central Government is providing Rs 1.5 lakh to every Municipal Corporation per every COVID-19 patient has gone viral on social media. Along with this claim, a video is circulating which states that the Municipal Corporation along with private doctors are inflating COVID cases to receive more money.

"Is it true?? @connectGEETA. This video circulating on WhatsApp & claimed that the municipality/private hospital testing every patient as a COVID positive patient to get benefits of 1.5 lakh provided by central govt for every corona positive patient," wrote a Twitter user.

@PIBMumbai @PIBFactCheck

1/1 https://t.co/67zWbMYHAl (sic) ".

Below is the whatsapp message:

FACT CHECK:

This claim is false.

Newsmeter checked the official website of the central government and found that no such official notice was released. No official news organization has released this statement as well.

With the help of a keyword search, a YouTube video was found where the Indian politician Geeta Jain, the woman in the video, addressed the issue. She stated that the video is fake and that she did not take part in making the fake video. She has filed a complaint with the Cyber cell for further investigation.

Press Information Bureau (PIB) also debunked this news and tweeted on its official handle. "Claim: A message circulating on #WhatsApp claims that the Central Government is providing Rs 1.5 lakh to every Municipality for each #COVID19 patient. #PIBFactCheck: The claim is #Fake. No such announcement has been made by Government (sic) . https://t.co/Ntr137aIUY", the tweet read.

Therefore, it is clear that the claim about the government providing Rs 1.5 lakh to every Municipal Corporation per every COVID-19 patient is false.

This fact check has been published as part of the Internews Information Saves Lives: Rapid Response Fund project to NewsMeter