A set of images showing a number of hospital beds lined up in a hall has gone viral with misleading captions claiming that the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Mumbai has been converted into a COVID-19 care centre in the wake of the increasing Coronavirus cases.
BOOM found that the viral photos are from Altadra BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Vadodra, Gujarat.
The pictures are viral at a time when India is reporting high number of COVID-19 cases. The country reported over 2.61 lakh COVID cases on April 18.
The photos have been tweeted by several verified Twitter handles including BJP leaders Shobha Karandlaje, BL Santosh as well as Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi among others.
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While Santosh and Pratapgarhi shared the photos thanking the temple authorities, Karandlaje shared the images with a text 'Together we can beat this #CoronaPandemic! Mumbai Sri Swamynarayan Mandir premises converted into COVID hospital. Will the liberal media see this contribution of a Hindu Org??!'.
An archive of the post can be found here.
An archive of the post can be found here.
An archive of the post can be found here.
The photos have also been shared with the misleading claim on Facebook and Twitter.
An archive of the post can be found here.
An archive of the post can be found here.
An archive of the post can be found here.
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BOOM also received the photo on its WhatsApp helpline number.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search on Google with 'BAPS Swaminarayan Temple COVID-19' and came across a news bulletin on TV9 Gujarati's YouTube channel titled 'Vadodara: 200-bed COVID facility comes up at Sabha Mandap of BAPS Atladara temple'.
A comparison of the visuals in the news report and the viral photos shows that they were taken at the same place.
In the background of the photos, the words 'Yagnapurush Sabhagruha' in Gujarati can be seen. The same words can also be seen in the TV9 Gujarati report. Yagnapurush Sabhagruha is a hall in the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Altadra, Vadodara.
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TV9 Gujarati reported that the hall has been converted into a 500-bed COVID-19 facility. It also reported that the facility will make provisions for 13,000 litres of oxygen supply and will have 30 toilets, 40 bathrooms and ventilators and ICUs.
A keyword search with 'BAPS Swaminarayan Temple COVID-19 Vadodara' led us to a Times Of India report from April 15 which stated that temples and mosques in Vadodara including the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple are setting up COVID-19 care centres to tackle the surge in COVID cases.
We further searched for media reports on the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Mumbai being converted into a COVID-19 care centre but did not find any news reports. BOOM also reached out to the temple in Mumbai but did not receive a response.
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Many temples, mosques and churches in India have opened up their facilities to be used COVID-19 care and isolation centres during the pandemic over the last year.