New Delhi, April 6: Amid the COVID-19 outbreak in India and the rising cases of the deadly disease each passing day, social media platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp have been flooded with fake posts related to extension of the ongoing lockdown. India is currently on a 21-day lockdown that was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. With the spike in the COVID-19 cases in the country, people have only one question in mind that will the lockdown be extended in India after April 14? Several fake claims and speculations of lockdown extension are being widely circulated on social media. The nationwide lockdown had come into effect from 12 midnight on March 24 and is expected to end on April 14.

The government denied any such plans for extension of lockdown after April 14. The Press Information Bureau, government's media body, tweeted saying there are rumours & media reports, claiming that the Government will extend the Lockdown21 when it expires are being shared on social media. It added saying that the government has no plan for lockdown extension and the Cabinet Secretary has denied these reports, and stated that they are baseless.

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba said that the government currently has no plans of extending the 21-day nation-wide lockdown. The current lockdown, that has been imposed across the country to fight the battle against COVID-19, will end on April 14. After the Prime Minister announcement on lockdown, he has not addressed the nation for any extension related announcement so far. Fact Check: Coronavirus Lockdown Extended Till April 30 in Maharashtra? Know Truth Behind Viral Fake News.

On April 4, a fact check report by Press Information Bureau (PIB) also busted fake news claiming that shutdown has been extended further. The fact check shared by @COVIDNewsByMIB, on April 4 claimed that the news of lockdown extension was a fake one as there has been no such announcement made by the Government. Coronavirus Scare: Is India Going Into a Complete Lockdown? PIB Fact Check Debunks Fake News.

In India, there has been an increasing trend in cases over the past one week. On Monday, COVID-19 Deaths topped 100 in India with 490 new cases in last 12 hours. The total number of deaths due to coronavirus across the country jumped to 109 while the total number of infected cases jumped to 4067.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 06, 2020 01:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).