A claim is circulating on social media along with the screenshot of a report from NDTV stating that Omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading through poultry in Telangana.
The text on the image read, “OMICRON VIRUS SPREADING DUE TO FARM CHICKENS. Telangana has notified the poultry farm as an infected area. PLEASE DON’T EAT FARM CHICKEN FOR SOME DAYS. STAY SAFE.”
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim and found it to be false.
A simple keyword search led us to the actual NDTV report published on May 8, 2021. The report was on bird flu cases at a poultry farm in Ludhiana, Punjab. There is no mention of COVID-19 in the article.
We then ran another keyword search and found that similar claims went viral in February 2020 as well, following which Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) issued a Press Release rubbishing the viral news.
Moreover, in June 2021, PIB shared the same ‘NDTV’ screenshot, where it was claimed that
‘Black Fungus spreads from poultry’ to refute the claim.
The same misinformation was also debunked by NewsMobile in 2021. Check the fact check below:
https://newsmobile.in/articles/2021/05/31/fact-check-can-black-fungus-spread-from-poultry-heres-the-truth/
We also scanned through WHO website but did not find any such advisory.
Hence, from the above information, it is clear that the viral screenshot stating that Omicron is spreading through chickens is fake.
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