Coronavirus: Govt Sets Up Fact Check Unit On Covid-19, PIB To Issue Daily Bulletin Every Evening

The Government of India will now issue daily information bulletin to keep people updated on the COVID-19 crisis. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has also set up a portal - COVID-19 Fact Check Unit - to verify fake news related to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The daily bulletin, issued by the PIB every evening at 8 pm, will inform people about government’s decisions, developments and progress on COVID-19. The first bulletin was released on April 1 at 6.30 pm. The Supreme Court on March 31 had asked the government to start a daily bulletin to clarify doubts related to COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 Fact Check Unit will receive messages by email and send its response in quick time, the official release said. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has also set up a technical group consisting of professionals from AIIMS to clear doubts on technical aspects of COVID-19. The Ministry has also issued detailed Guidelines to deal with psychological issues amongst migrants.

The cabinet secretary has written to all the state governments informing them that 11 Empowered Groups have been constituted under the Disaster Management Act to manage the COVID-19 situation. The state governments have been requested to adopt a similar mechanism at the their level too. The state governments have also been requested to engage volunteers to supervise the welfare activities of the migrants. 

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The number of COVID-19 cases in India neared 2,000 on Thursday, a day after the country saw the biggest single day jump in the number of identified cases. According to govt updates on Thursday morning, the number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases was 1,965 while the death toll rose to 50. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 1,764.