Coronavirus couple, wife had multiple affairs, was 'fake'. Channel ran WhatsApp forward

The social media has been abuzz with the story of a couple who is being labeled as the super spreader of Covid-19 after it was reported that the girl allegedly had multiple partners.

Amid the mayhem caused by the novel coronavirus, a couple who allegedly tested positive for COVID-19 seems to have caught the fancy of social media users. A report run by a Tamil news channel stated that after the couple was found to be infected, it was learned that the girl had romantic relationships with three other men who have now been put under observation as a precautionary measure.

Malaimurasu TV further reported that out of those three men, one was seeing at least two other girls. And to add to that, one of those two women is suspected to have more boyfriends. Soon after the report hit the TV screens, a clip from it was shared on Twitter and the story went viral in no time.

Couple detected with #Corona in Delhi.! But the girl allegedly has affair with three other men who are also under observation now. In a new twist, out of three, a man has two more other girl friends. Out of those two one is suspected to have more bfs.pic.twitter.com/vQBBeoyF4o
— SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) April 26, 2020

Social media galore with different versions of the story

After the story reached Twitter, it was circulated fanatically with certain details being changed. Soon, there were different versions of the same story doing the rounds on social media.

While the report that was aired by Malaimurasu TV said that the couple is from Delhi, the altered versions mentioned different cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai and so on.

Besides changing the cities, some users even extended the chain of transmission, bringing in the family members into the equation.

Fact check — One of the versions of girl with multiple partners storyTwitter

A few presented it as a lesson for not being faithful in a relationship.

The cheater is cheated

"Later today a girl was confirmed to have Corona so the girl and her family was put into isolation
After thorough research we saw that the girl has 3 boyfriends & the guys has 2 girlfriends each
Also, the girls have 5boys each

Lesson: Stop cheating?"
— Q_Ameenah (@Q_Ameenah) April 26, 2020

Some users from even Pakistan also tweaked and tweeted the story.

have 2 more girlfriends !! Among those girlfriends, one has 2 more boyfriends !! Among them, one is married !!
Join maths classes, to learn newly introduced syllabus in Mathematics called Covid Maths....?(2)
— Ahmer shahzad (@R_A_S_Captain) April 26, 2020

Fact-checking the viral story

After coming across the clip of the news story on Twitter, International Business Times, India, swung into action to verify whether it is true or just another fake story. IBT got in touch with the Editor of the local channel that aired the story and he revealed that their report was based on a WhatsApp forward and that there is not any substantial proof to support it.

As we had suspected, it turned out to be yet another false news based on a forwarded message. The news, however, has already made its way to different social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, along with the clip of the news report.

Therefore, IBT would like to state that the news about the COVID-19 positive girl with multiple partners is not true and appeal to our readers to not entertain it if it comes their way.