Falling for a piece of viral fake news on social media, Bollywood’s biggest star Amitabh Bachchan, wrote in a tweet that “Clapping shankh [conch] vibration reduces/destroys virus potency.”
The blunder came after an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on coming out on balconies at 5 pm on 22 March to clap and applaud the health care workers and express solidarity.
Amitabh Bachchan wrote in his tweet: “22 March, ‘amavasya’, darkest day of month; virus, bacteria and evil forces at max potential & power ! Clapping shankh vibration reduces/destroys virus potency. Moon passing to new ‘nakshatra’ Revati. Cumulative vibration betters blood circulation.”
Mr. Bachchan is one of the most popular celebrities on social media, with more than 40 million followers on Twitter. Also, he is not the only celeb to fall for the viral fake news; in last week, Sonu Nigam also tweeted a video of himself applauding Modi for his “masterstroke” and claiming that “coronavirus will die during Janta curfew”.
The novel coronavirus has infected more than 3,00,000 people around the world and nearly 13,000 have died. In India, there are more than 400 positive cases, with one in Kashmir so far.
