As summer is at its peak, people love to beat the heat with something cold. At such instances the sizzling and refreshing fizz of soft drinks many times becomes the first choice to quench the thirst. These drinks are highlights of parties and gatherings. Over the years soft drinks companies have captured the hearts of millions of people all over the world.
But what terror will it bring to people if they will come to know that the soft drinks, they are consuming have been inflicted by a virus? What kind of fears will it create and for how long?
An old message about the contamination of soft drinks has resurfaced again on various social media platforms. The message says that Hyderabad Police has issued a warning not to consume soft drinks like Maaza, Fanta, 7 Up, Coca Cola, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, etc. for the next few days because one of the company’s workers has mixed the contaminated blood of a dangerous virus named Ebola in it.
Fact Check-
A relevant keyword search on Google led us to the same message viral on twitter last year as well. You can see the tweet below.
Let us tell you that this message has been circulating on social media with the same claim since 2019. A keyword search led us to a clarification by the Hyderabad Police on their Facebook Post on 13 July 2019. The post states, “Fake news spreading on social media about cool drinks and a warning from Hyderabad city police is fake one and Hyderabad city police never released any message regarding this.” They have issued the same clarification on Twitter as well.
Apart from this, we found that PIB also declared the viral message to be fake. The post reads, “Did you also receive a #WhatsApp forward claiming that the Government of India has advised citizens to avoid cold drinks as they are contaminated with the Ebola virus. This message is fake”
We also searched for information on the last outbreak of Ebola in India. We found that the concern about the outbreak of Ebola in the country was discussed in the parliament. Replying to the question raised in the parliament in 2014, then the Minister of state in the Ministry of Health and family welfare, Smt. Anupriya Patel had replied that no cases of Ebola diseases were reported in India.
We looked for reports of the Ebola outbreak worldwide. According to the CDC, patients infected with Ebola virus were found in Uganda in 2022. Total number of cases in 2022 was 169. Apart from this, an Ebola virus outbreak was recorded in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, 2014.
None of the reports says anything about the outbreak of the Ebola virus due to infected soft drinks. Hence, the message was made viral to mislead and terrorize people.
Conclusion:
Fact Crescendo found the claim to be false. Hyderabad police had clarified that they have not released any warning about the soft drinks contaminated with the Ebola virus.
Title:Did Hyderabad police release a warning about the contamination of soft drinks with Ebola Virus? Know the truth.
Fact Check By: Siddharth SahuResult: False
