In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 19 had appealed citizens to observe a ‘Janata curfew’ on Sunday, March 22.
He had urged everyone to stay home from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday.
The PM also requested all the citizens to stand at their doorways and clap for people working in essential services at 5:00 pm on Sunday, to honour their services in the times of coronavirus.
At the end of this people’s curfew, however, Indians, for no good reason took to the streets in huge numbers banging pots and pans in what appeared to be a celebratory gesture.
In light of this, the alleged twitter account of China’s official state-run Xinhua news tweeted on the event and wrote, ‘Coronavirus finally died today in India due to shock.’
The video accompanying the showed a woman clanging a plate with a spoon and chanting ‘Go corona go’.
Netizens shared the tweet on Facebook and Twitter, attributing it to China’s official news agency.
These shameless Chinese who lied to the world, tried hiding their #ChineseVirusCorona has the audacity of making fun of the spirit of India to fight this Pandemic created by China. You ll pay heavily for your sin. The world is suffering because of you. #ChinaLiedPeopleDied
â Punit Agarwal (@Punitspeaks) March 23, 2020
Claim:
China’s official state-run Xinhua news mocked India.
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
The mocking tweet was not from the verified account of the Chinese news agency. It was from a parody account.
The Twitter handle of the parody account is @x_xinhua, but the verified account goes around with the handle @XHNews.
The verified account has over 12 million followers while the parody account, however, has only around 4,500 followers.
The official account is followed by several other blue-ticked accounts such as, the Spokesperson’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (@MFA_China) and the Mission of China (@ChinaEUMission) which is the mission of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union.
It is evident, then, the tweet that sparked the sentiments of Indians was a mere prank from a fake account.
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