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Fact Check: Dubious Infographic Stating 'Risk Of Community Transmission In Indian States' Propagated As 'News'
Writer: Aditi Chattopadhyay
Aditi, part of the fact checking team of The Logical Indian likes to read, write, cook and laugh, in short live life as it is supposed to be. What makes her fascinated is to discover the truth behind a story and more often than not, it is either fact or myth at the end.
Telangana, 24 Jun 2020 2:34 PM GMT
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The Logical Indian Fact check team investigates the claim that Viral infographic shows the Risk percentage of Community Transmission of COVID-19 for various states in India.
An infographic which claims to show that the Telangana State has COVID-19 community transmission risk of 122% has gone viral.
The Infographic titled 'Risk of Community Transmission of COVID-19', has been shared by several verified accounts.
The Logical Indian received a request to authenticate the Infographic. It has been attributed to 'India in Pixels', a media outlet which has accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.
Several verified accounts also posted this Infographic. All of these accounts have a large number of followers and therefore the graphic had extensive reach on Twitter.
Claim:
Viral infographic shows the Risk percentage of Community Transmission of COVID-19 for various states in India.
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
The Telangana government on June 22 denied the claims that the state was at a higher risk of community transmission of COVID-19.
Health Minister Eatala Rajender's office issued a statement after the infographic by India.in.pixels claiming that Telangana had a 122% risk of community transmission went viral on social media.
Below is the press note issued by the Telangana government:
Clarification From 'India In Pixels':
The page had added an edit to their now-viral post and clarified that the infographic 'is not making a prediction but only comparing the number of quarantined people in comparison with active cases'
Below is a screenshot of their clarification:
Further, a GitHub link to the data used for calculations is also mentioned in the edited post. It shows that the number of quarantined people considered for calculating the risk of community transmission in Telangana is 2993. This number is much less than the number of people in the containment zones (1,99,465) as mentioned in the press note issued by the state government.
Below is the comparison between the data used in the Infographic (Left) and the data released by the state government (Right):
Further, by their own admission, 'India in Pixels' have stated that 'the metric is super rough. While a more perfect metric can be made considering population density and testing parameters, it will be far too complex to be visualized. This metric is simple to understand but is arguably rough.' The formula used has no scientific basis.
Therefore, the Infographic is not a reliable source of information.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Also Read: Fact Check: Tweet From Parody Account Claiming 'India Won War Against China' Goes Viral
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