On Sunday, Twitter was aghast about one Dr Aisha, a young doctor who ostensibly passed away from COVID-19. Several prominent Twitter handles including former NDTV anchor Nidhi Razdan, Congressman Nikhil Alva, Twitter user Sanjukta Basu, CNN-News 18 journalist Pallavi Ghosh, Shahid Siddiqui and others paid their tribute to the ‘fallen’ COVID-19 warrior. Except it would appear that Dr Aisha was a hoax.
Incidentally, none of the tweets appear to give her location.
Dr Aisha's alleged last tweet read: "Haya friends not coping with covid 19. Going to be hooked up to the ventilator sometime today. Remember me, my smile to you. Thank U 4 Ur friendship. Will miss Ull. Be safe take this deadly virus seriously. Luv u guys."
Earlier, sharing a picture from a hospital, the user had tweeted: "Keep Aisha in your prayer. the more her friends and family pray for her, she may recover from this virus. thank you."
Soon after the tweets went viral on the internet, condolences started pouring in on the micro-blogging site.
Congress leader and son of Margaret Alva, Nikhil Alva tweeted: "Heartbreaking. This amazingly positive girl didn’t make it finally. Let this be a warning to all those who think the Covid19 virus is dangerous only for older people. RIP."
Journalist Nidhi Razdan wrote, "This is the saddest story you'll see today. A reminder that COVID can kill even young people. We have no business being careless"
"Dr Aisha was recently qualified as a doctor; celebrated her birthday on July 17 & bid farewell to this world on Eid yesterday with this glorious smile. Her family members were handed a sealed coffin due to the COVID virus. A life gone too soon. Sincere condolences!" read 'assistance professor' at AIIMS Dr Amarinder S Malhi's tweet.
Several others took to the micro-blogging site to offer heartfelt condolences.
However, soon it appeared that the pictures shared by Dr Aisha were taken from another website. After netizens questioned the legitimacy of the account, the Twitter account was deleted. Furious netizens shared screenshots of Dr Aisha's older tweets and slammed journalist and other social media personalities for circulating 'fake news'.
Nidhi Razdan deleted the post and tweeted: "Have deleted a previous tweet about a Dr Aisha. Turns out the account was fake ! You have to be really sick to pretend to have COVID"
Here's how Twitter reacted to the same:
