Collector isn’t corona patient, to take police action over news

Nagpur: Perturbed after receiving numerous calls and messages from his near and dear ones after he was mistakenly declared as coronavirus patient, district collector Ravindra Thakare on Friday said he will take police action against the media company that published the misinformation.

“On Thursday, I hadn’t thought of taking cognisance but when I started receiving calls from across the country, I thought of correcting the blunder. Some news portal had wrongly displayed my name as coronavirus patient. Media shouldn’t carry any news without verification, as it can lead to harassment of the person concerned. This is very irresponsible journalism. I have already told police to inquire into the source of this news,” he said.

Thakare said that he couldn’t focus on his work after receiving several calls. Slamming social media users who spread such fake news, the collector said it often leads to unnecessary panic. “They should resist from forwarding such news without verifying its source. Media shouldn’t believe in such rumours,” he said.