There are messages wildly circulating on social media that the second wave of COVID and dead birds found is caused by radioactive material released by 5G testing.
These messages appeal to people to protest against the installation of 5G towers. Pictures of dead birds were also shared claiming that the birds were killed due to 5G radiation. Those pictures were falsely linked to birds that died in Bihar.
The photo shared in the post is related to an old episode in Bihar. The birds in the photo died after consuming the seeds that contained a high dosage of pesticides. This event reportedly took place in 2009 and the photo has nothing to do with 5G testing in India. Hence, the claim made in the post is false.
On analysis image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found to be shared by various social media users in 2016. These posts claim that thousands of birds have died because of sunstroke in Chennai.
In April 2016, ‘The News Minute’ published an article, clarifying the details of this photo showing the hundreds of dead birds. In the article, it is clarified that the image is not related to Chennai. Shravan Krishnan, an official from Chennai Wildlife Rescuers has notified media that the image is related to a seven-year-old event in Bihar. Adding to that, Shravan Krishnan explained that the birds in the image died after eating the seeds that contain a high dosage of pesticides.
Now once again, people are using the same image to link 5G to causing the second wave of COVID and birds dying. The messages claim that people are experiencing symptoms of dryness in the mouth, blood clots, breathlessness, and all this is caused by 5G radiation.
Unfortunately, fake news to suit agendas is causing not only panic but causing people to make wrong decisions.