A hoax message claiming to have been sent by the Municipal Commissioner went viral in the city on Wednesday night, sparking panic among residents.
The message warned residents to stay indoors from 10 p.m. on Wednesday to 5 a.m. on Thursday, claiming that the civic body would be spraying some medicine in the air to eliminate the COVID-19 virus. The poorly worded message bore all the hallmarks of a hoax message.
However, as the message began circulating on WhatsApp, anxious residents began calling up GVMC officials and their friends in the media to ascertain whether the message was genuine. GVMC officials clarified that the message was a hoax and advised residents not to pay heed to such forwarded messages.
VMRDA Commissioner P. Koteswara Rao confirmed that the message was fake and said he would bring it to the notice of the Commissioner of Police and urge him to take action against those who created the hoax message.
Experts said that it was lamentable that netizens are so easily taken in by such hoax messages. “People make the mistake of thinking that whatever they read on WhatsApp as true. Netizens should use their common sense to identify a hoax message. In this case, how can spraying a disinfectant in the air eliminate the COVID-19 virus? People should think first before forwarding such messages,” a doctor said requesting anonymity.
