New Delhi, March 28: A news report about the coronavirus outbreak in India was widely shared recently after several media houses, not LatestLY, published it without verifying it. The report claimed that India will witness a huge spike in coronavirus cases, with as many as 40 crore Indians contracting the virus by July end. The news was purportedly based on a report by the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP)-John Hopkins university. However, it has turned out to be fake news. Fact Check: Coronavirus Lockdown Extended Till April 30 in Maharashtra? Know Truth Behind Viral Fake News.

"CDDEP's IndiaSIM model has predicted that if coronavirus is allowed to spread without interventions then between 30 and 40 crore Indians are likely to be infected by July," the news report, which has now been taken by certain media houses, claimed. "To reach these numbers, John Hopkins and CDDEP used IndiaSIM, a well-validated agent-based model of the Indian population which has been published widely over many years and has been used for government decision-making," it added. Fact Check: Has Imran Khan Tested Positive For Coronavirus? Pakistan Government Clarifies on Fake News Going Viral.

After the news report went viral, John Hopkins University distanced itself from it. In response to a tweet, the varsity said that it had not authorized the use of its logo in the joint CDDEP-John Hopkins report quoted in the news report which claimed that 40 crore Indians could contract coronavirus by July end.

Clarification by John Hopkins University:

The use of our logo was not authorized in this case and JHU is engaging with CDDEP on it. Thank you. — Johns Hopkins University (@JohnsHopkins) March 26, 2020

As of 9:30 am on March 28, India has reported 873 cases of coronavirus. Of them, 775 are active cases. While 78 people were treated successfully, 19 have lost their lives due to coronavirus, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Saturday morning.

Fact check

Claim : Coronavirus will infect 40 crore Indians by July end. Conclusion : The report is false and not based on a study by John Hopkins University. Full of Trash Clean

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 28, 2020 04:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).