A person was arrested in Odisha’s Rayagada district on Friday for spreading rumours on COVID-19 online. Satyanarayan Samal, 32, had uploaded a post on Facebook claiming that an infected person had returned from Kerala and admitted in the Rayagada District Headquarters Hospital.
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Police said the claim was false and advised people to refrain from spreading such such fake news.
Rayagada Superintendent of Police (SP) Shravan Vivek M. said that investigation had shown the claim was false. The SP advised people to refrain from posting such fake news on social media sites as it led to panic and chaos.
On Thursday, the Odisha government issued COVID-19 guidelines on the basis of Sections 2,3 and 4 of the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 that makes spreading of rumours a punishable offence.
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