Collector of Wayanad Dr Adeela Abdulla has stated that a fake audio clip using her name has been circulating on social media. The voice message, going around Whatsapp groups, claims to give instructions from the Collector on fighting the coronavirus.
"It has come to my notice that a fake audio clip on coronavirus prevention methods from Wayanad Collector is widely circulated on Whatsapp. Such fake messages will bring a big challenge to the public health and safety, and strict legal action will be taken (against those spreading it). Information cleanliness is as important as personal hygiene. Let's adopt only scientific methods to resist the disease. We can fight and defeat the coronavirus pandemic," Collector Adeela wrote on Facebook.
The fake message says that all those who are infected with the virus will get respiratory disease, reports 24 News. District police chief has said that the source of this fake message shall be probed.
On Thursday, 143 people in Wayanad tested positive for the coronavirus and 56 others recovered. This includes five health workers. A total of 3,785 people have so far contracted the disease in Wayanad, out of which 2,705 have recovered. There have been five deaths of COVID-19 patients in Wayanad. As of now, 1,060 people are under treatment for COVID-19 in the district.
Wayanad was one of the first districts in the state to contain in the disease in the early stages, before a second wave of COVID-19 spread through the state. In April it was recognised as one of the 25 districts across the country to not report a single case in over two weeks. Even in later months, when the numbers crossed several hundreds in the rest of the state, Wayanad had managed to have the lowest number of per-day cases, with the highest being the 214 cases reported on September 30.
Dr Adeela, doctor-turned-IAS officer, told TNM in an interview that quarantine was the key to containing the disease.
While strictly enforcing quarantine, the district administration also took strict measures against those violating it by registering a number of cases. Strict surveillance was also observed at the 14 borders of the district. Earlier the decision to open the border to Karnataka to allow people from Barakuppe to come for treatment in Wayanad had become news, especially when the neighbouring state had closed its borders for patients from Kasargod.