Busting the top 3 fake news of the week

A Bangladeshi independent fact-checking initiative, 'BD FactCheck' have been publishing their findings on various claims made on Bangladeshi Facebook community for a long time. Here is a list of three of the 'fake news' they dug out this week

News claiming vaccine in Bangladesh will not be given to common people is untrue

A photo that looks like a written document went viral last week on Facebook with some information about the alleged disbursement plan of covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh. The document spread through a number of Facebook pages and profiles contains a headline stating "Covid-19 vaccine: 1st installment, total number 2 lakhs". It claims only 2 lakhs doses of vaccine will be imported in the first installment and all of them would be allocated among government officials and ruling party men. No vaccine is planned to be distributed for common people. The document also shows in the bottom that the information above was "obtained from a ministry (unnamed)".

After verification, claims in the viral document turned out to be false. No such information reported in any media outlets in the country. No public figure told about this. No clue was found who first published this information from that unnamed ministry source.

Rather it contradicts the information published on credible media outlets quoting government high ups who are involved in Covid-19 vaccine management. According to the agreement signed by Bangladesh's health ministry and Serum Institute of India, Dhaka will receive 3 crore doses of vaccine in the next six months starting from January. A total of 50 lakhs doses will be delivered in mid-January as the first installment. 1.2 crore of the total shots will be given to people aged over 60 and the rest will be distributed for the frontliners such as health workers, policemen, army personnel, government representatives, officials and journalists.

BD FactCheck Facebook Post Link: https://www.facebook.com/bdfactcheck/posts/1222450551489271

Sonali Bank not giving Tk 1600 as 'gifts' marking Victory Day

A post circulated through different Facebook groups and profiles claims that Sonali Bank has declared financial incentives of Tk 1600 for common people marking the National Victory Day. A facebook post states: "Today a senior sister of mine told me about the Sonali Bank's gift of 1600 taka as part of celebrating the glorious victory day of Bangladesh." A link to a website was also provided for registration.

BD FactCheck clicked that website link to check what it says only to be ended with a notice 'Website not found' in the uRL. We also searched for such news reports in online media and recent print newspapers, but found nothing on it. The Sonali Bank website has no mention of such initiatives. No government offices have announced anything related to this. It is to be mentioned, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina provided with cash aids of Tk 2500 for 50 lakh families hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in May this year. No declaration of a nationwide financial aid program other than this was made so far from the government or from any other institution.

BD FactCheck Facebook Post Link: https://www.facebook.com/bdfactcheck/posts/1224083361325990

Taslima Nasrin has not contracted Covid-19

Some online portals last week reported that prominent writer Taslima Nasrin has been contracted with Covid-19. The news was shared on Facebook by thousands but later it was proved to be fake. The headlines that went viral were clickbaits as there was no information of Taslima being infected with Covid given in the body text of those reports. Secondly, the writer herself debunked this claim in her verified facebook page saying some news portal falsely reported about her health condition.

BD FactCheck Facebook Post Link: https://www.facebook.com/bdfactcheck/posts/1223861178014875