The Coimbatore Corporation that has been fighting to contain the COVID-19 spread has been forced to open another front – one to control the spread of rumours.
On Thursday night, the civic body issued a release appealing to people to not give into rumours and spread unverified messages on social media platforms.
It said rumours were being spread that a mutant of the SARS-CoV-2 was spreading fast in Nanjundapuram and that a greater number of people had died there.
The message said that of the 965 persons tested, 680 were found positive and 30 had died thus far. The samples of a few persons had revealed that they had a mutant of the virus and that the ICMR had even named the mutant as SARS-CoV-3 TNCBE.
It also claimed that mutant would spread faster than the other variants and particularly affected children. The message also spoke about beds kept ready at the Government Medical College and ESI Hospital and Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.
Countering the claims, the Corporation said it had thus far collected 650 samples and of those only 56 persons had tested positive in the last 10 days. It had barricaded the area and deployed health and sanitary workers for door-to-door survey, to conduct fever camps, deliver medicine kits and disinfect the place.
Reiterating its appeal to the city’s residents to not fall prey to such rumours, the Corporation said it had lodged a complaint with the police to initiate action against those who authored the unverified message.
