Govt asks social platforms to take down ‘Indian Covid variant’ posts

The Union ministry of health, on May 12, clarified that there is no Indian variant of coronavirus disease.

The Union ministry of electronics and information technology has written to all social media platforms to remove content that “names, refers to, or implies that there is an ‘Indian variant’ of Covid-19,” HT has learnt.

On Friday, India continued to report a dip in its confirmed coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases. (File photo)

“It has come to our knowledge that a false statement is being circulated online which implies that an ‘Indian variant’ of coronavirus is spreading across the countries. This is completely FALSE. There is no such variant of Covid-19 scientifically cited as such by the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO has not associated the term “Indian Variant” with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports,” the ministry wrote in the letter.

According to the communication sent by the ministry, the Union ministry of health, on May 12, clarified that there is no Indian variant of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as the World Health Organization does not name any variant after the country where it has been first reported from.

A senior Indian government source told Reuters the notice was issued to send a message “loud and clear” that such mentions of “Indian variant” spread miscommunication and hurt the country’s image.

This comes as India, on Friday, continued to report a dip in its confirmed coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases while associated fatalities remained below record levels in the last 24 hours.

As per the health bulletin released by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, 257,299 tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours across the country while 4,194 patients succumbed to the deadly virus. While the country’s cumulative Covid-19 death toll stands at 2,95,525, the total number of cases is at a whopping 26,289,290 till date.