There is a COVID-19 case in east Indian state.
The Hindi-language post translates to English as: "*Breaking News* / Coronavirus has reached Purnea. A coronavirus-positive patient just went to Dr. Vinod Kumar, but he could not get treatment and has been referred to Bhagalpur. I am advising the people of Purnea to avoid meat and fish for three months. / *Note= Always wear a mask as it will protect you from coronavirus*.", Bhagalpur\xa0is another district in\xa0Bihar., "The posts text was also shared here, here, here, here and here on Facebook\xa0and here on Twitter.", This claim is false., During a phone conversation with AFP on February 14, 2020, Dr. Ragini Mishra, the State Surveillance Officer at the Bihar Government’s State Health Society, confirmed there had been no novel coronavirus patients in the state., “We’re taking strict measures as directed by the central government and fortunately have not come across any such cases in the state,” she said., In separate phone conversations on February 13, 2020, the Chief Medical Officers of Purnea and Bhagalpur,\xa0Dr. Madhusudhan Prasad and Dr. R.C. Mandal,\xa0also told AFP there are no confirmed coronavirus\xa0cases in the districts., Further keyword searches led to this denial letter by Dr. Vinod Kumar, the doctor named in the misleading Facebook post., “I, Dr.\xa0Vinod Kumar from Purnea district, would like to convey that some anti-social elements are spreading false news in with my name that a coronavirus-infected patient is referred to Bhagalpur by me. This is absolutely baseless and false information. This is aimed at targeting me in some ways. No such patient ever visited my clinic," the Hindi letter, which is dated February 7, 2020, reads in English., Below is screenshot of his letter:, During a phone conversation with AFP on February 13, 2020, Dr. Kumar confirmed the letter was genuine., , 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.
Indian health authorities dismiss hoax report of novel coronavirus case in east Indian state | AFP Fact Check