“Pathetic situation. Healthcare workers in Assam Medical College Are forced to cover themselves with plastic bags which are used to carry biomedical waste bcz of lack of personal protection equipments. Can PM @narendramodi take this issue seriously & provide #PPEsBeforeApplause,” his post said.

The post, that was retweeted over 3,000 times, caused panic as was obvious in comments as well as a triggered spate of misinformation by influential Twitter handles. Many of them were journalists.

Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sharma responded to the post by calling it “highly motivated”.

“This tweet is highly motivated and some one must be doing purposefully. We have supplied good number of PPE kits in last 3 days. Police has been asked to register an FIR and investigate. I have personally in touch with hospital authorities (sic),” Sarma tweeted.