A screenshot of a purported internal email disclosing that a bank in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi was closed after an employee tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has been shared on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:, A similar misleading claim\xa0about the Bank of Punjab (BOP) branch closing were also shared on Facebook here\xa0and on Twitter here, here\xa0and here. The claim was shared on WhatsApp as well., Below is a screenshot of the\xa0WhatsApp message:, The claim is false., BOP shared a statement on Facebook on March 19, 2020 to deny the closure., “News and rumors are being spread on social media that some employees of a BOP branch have tested positive for Covid -19. BOP has taken strong notice of these fake news and clarifies that no employee at any BOP branch of office has tested positive for COVID-19,” the bank said., , The manager of the BOP’s Rawalpindi branch, Khawaja Rashid, also denied the claim., “All staff are present today and working and none of our staff members went for coronavirus tests. All news circulating on social media in this regard are false,” he told AFP by phone on March 24, 2020., As of March 24, 2020, Pakistan has 887 confirmed COVID-19 cases and six deaths, according to the latest situation report\xa0from Pakistan’s National Institute of Health., , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
This Pakistani bank said no employees had tested positive for COVID-19 and its branches remained open | AFP Fact Check