Multiple Facebook posts have shared a purported roadmap for the Indian government’s plans to ease a nationwide coronavirus lockdown alongside a claim that it shows an official government announcement.
The post reads in part: “Government\s roadmap to ease Covid-19 restrictions will be set out in 5 phases. These phases will be on 3 week review process, the current phases would commence on the following dates:\n\t"Phase 1 - 18th May\n\t"Phase 2 - 8th June\n\t"Phase 3 - 29th June\n\t"Phase 4 - 20th July\n\t"Phase 5 - 10th August\n\t"If coronavirus cases begin to increase, we will revert to the restrictions set out in the previous stage.”, India’s nationwide lockdown has been extended multiple times since it was first imposed on March 24, 2020. On May 31, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs announced a further extension at least May 31, 2020., The same purported government plan was also shared on Facebook here, here, here, here and here\xa0with a similar claim., The claim is false., The Indian government’s official Press Information Bureau dubbed the purported guidelines as “fake news” in a tweet on May 12, 2020., “This roadmap is not made by our Government, but by that of some other country,” the tweet added., Claim: A so-called 3-week, 5-phase "roadmap", purportedly made\n\t\tby the Government, to ease #COVID19India restrictions is being circulated on Whatsapp.#PIBFactCheck: #Fake news.This roadmap is not made by our Government, but by that of some other country pic.twitter.com/20duABJP9V, The dates in the misleading posts corresponded with this announcement by the Irish government on May 18, 2020., , , 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.
Fake 'roadmap' for India's plans to relax coronavirus lockdown circulates online | AFP Fact Check