A video from March last year of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announcing a complete lockdown in 15 districts of the state, is being shared with a false claim of a fresh lockdown in UP.
BOOM found that the viral video is old. It was when a pan India lockdown had just begun with Janata Curfew marking the first such step due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 22, 2020 announced Janata Curfew and by the intervening night of March 24-25, India was under a lockdown.
While talking to chief ministers of states via virtual meeting on March 17, 2021, the prime minister spoke about the emerging second wave of COVID-19. He asked the CMs to take quick and decisive steps to stop the spread. However, news reports suggest that the Uttar Pradesh government is not imposing lockdown in any district of the state. The state administration is stepping up testing and contact tracing.
Also Read:Old Video Of COVID-19 Restrictions In Karnataka Viral As Recent
In the viral video, Yogi Adityanath can be seen talking about lockdown in 15 districts and COVID-19 related safety measures. He asked the citizens to not to step out or gather at any public place. He asked all the district authorities to monitor closely.
Video is accompanied with a caption in Hindi which translates to: "Aman Verma Crime Reporter Sadbhavna News Lucknow UP residents should be alert once again because a lockdown in 15 districts is expected, the chief minister Yogi Adityanath is conveying this in the video. Beware, stay safe from corona and do not visit crowded places and keep a proper distance and use the mask."
(In Hindi: "अमन वर्मा क्राइम रिपोर्टर सद्भावना समाचार लखनऊ यूपी प्रदेशवासियों एक बार फिर से सतर्क हो जाइए क्योंकि 15 जिलों में लॉकडाउन लगने के आसार हैं ऐसा इस वीडियो में हमारे प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री श्री योगी आदित्यनाथ जी कह रहे हैं सावधान रहें सतर्क रहें कोरोना से बचे भीड़ वाली जगहों पर ना जाए उचित दूरी बनाकर रखें मास्क का प्रयोग करें.")
Video can be seen here and its archived version can be seen here.
Also Read:Maharashtra In The Beginning Of 2nd COVID-19 Wave, Warns Centre
Fact check
BOOM watched the video and ran 'yogi adityanath announcing lockdown in 15 districts' keywords search on the internet. We found numerous news reports about the lockdown announcement by Yogi Adityanath last year. The chief minister on March 22, 2020, had announced lockdown in 15 districts in the first phase of imposing such restrictions due to the pandemic.
NDTV published the same announcement on their official YouTube channel on March 22, 2020.
Moreover, ABP news had also published a longer version of the announcement on their official channel.
A report published in Navbharat Times states, "health minister of Uttar Pradesh has clarified that the state is focusing only on corona testing. People coming to the state from outside on Holi will have to go through a mandatory testing. We did not think about lockdown or night curfew."
It must be noted that NOIDA police has imposed Section 144 in the area ahead of the festive season.