Pakistani News Channel Telecasts FALSE News Of UK PM Boris Johnson’s Death From Coronavirus; Falls Prey To Fake Account

A Pakistani news channel ran the false news of UK Prime minister Boris Johnson’s death from Coronavirus. They took the news down after realizing they fell for the false news from a fake news channel account

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Pakistani News Channel Telecasts FALSE News Of UK PM Boris Johnson’s Death From Coronavirus; Falls Prey To Fake Account
It was on March 27 that Prime Minister of UK, Boris Johnson revealed testing positive for Coronavirus and was self0-isolating since then. He had announced the news via a Tweet that read, “Over the last 24 hours, I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this. #StayHomeSaveLives”.  He is currently admitted to a hospital in London. Meanwhile, a  Pakistani news channel ran the false news of UK Prime minister Boris Johnson’s death from Coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Pakistan’s news channel ‘Dawn’ telecast the news of UK PM Boris Johnson’s death from Coronavirus infection, and they attributed the information to a fake BBC account on Twitter, having handful of followers. It was after they realized that they fell for the false news posted by a fake account, that they took down the report. They were called out on Twitter by many social media users as well as journalists that UK PM Boris Johnson is actually alive.  

Turns out the source of the false news was a Twitter account named ‘BBC Breaking News’ but did not have a blue tick. India Today reported that the Twitter handle was a fake one and has now been deleted for violating Twitter rules. The handle for the fake one was @BBCbreaki, while the official Twitter handle of BBC Crraking News is @BBCBreaking.


Meanwhile, UK cabinet office minister Michael Gove gave a health update about PM Boris Johnson, and told LBC radio on April 7, "The Prime Minister has received some oxygen support and is kept under close supervision, but he is not on ventilator."





Image Source: Twitter/BorisJohnson/KazmiWajahat
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