Punjab health dept rebuts rumours of coronavirus in chicken

LAHORE: Punjab health department on Thursday said that the reports circulating on social media linking broiler chicken with the spread of coronavirus in the country were false and baseless, ARY News reported.

A spokesperson of the provincial heath department said that all the rumours being spread on social media in this regard were wrong. He maintained that a fake letter have been made viral to create panic among the masses.

Meanwhile, expressing concerns over the over the rumours of chicken carrying coronavirus, the Pakistan Poultry Association has termed them ‘baseless propaganda’. The poultry body asked the people to continue consuming chicken without any fear.

Read More: Was coronavirus found in chickens in Pakistan?

Earlier on February 20, photos of diseased chicken had been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook posts which had claim the deadly novel coronavirus had been found in chickens in Pakistan.

The claim was false; Ministry of Health, National Institute of Health and the Pakistan Poultry Association had told AFP there was “no evidence” novel coronavirus had been found in poultry. The photos had been shared out of context as they showed chickens sickened with an unrelated disease.

The photos and claim had been shared in the Facebook post, which had been shared almost 300 times since it was published on February 4, 2020.