A heartbreaking story of the death of a young doctor went viral on the internet on Sunday. Dr Aisha, who tweeted under the handle @Aisha_must_sayz, supposedly lost her life to the Wuhan Coronavirus after being put on ventilator on the occasion of Eid-al-Adha. The news of her death went viral on social media with an outpouring of grief from all quarters.
As it turns out, however, the entire thing appears to be a sick joke played by someone who obviously has too much time on his hands during the lockdown amidst the Coronavirus crisis. Users on social media have pointed towards the various inconsistencies in her fanciful story that makes it more than evident that the whole affair was one giant farce.
In one tweet, ‘Dr Aisha’ claimed that she was on a ventilator. However, a quick search on Google revealed that the image she had shared was actually that of dental anaesthesia. One user also revealed that ‘Dr Aisha’ in her photo does not look anything like an individual who is about to be put on a ventilator.
Now her ‘update’ has MULTIPLE logical fallacies.
— Pirated Daactarni (@MonoChronica) August 2, 2020
1. She assumed that a smiling, well oriented patient requires a ventilator.
2. She doesn’t even know how a patient on ventilator looks like!
Here, compare the pic below with above pics and also her condition!
(2/n) pic.twitter.com/3phyPMMRIt
The user also revealed that the person in the image that was shared was likely not ‘Aisha’ and while ‘Aisha’ claimed to be living in South Africa as per the information on her Twitter profile, the logo on the hospital bed-sheet indicated that the girl in the photo was at a hospital in Telangana. The account was created on Twitter in October 2019.
Now that it’s clear that she isn’t a doctor, nor she is in South Africa.. Let’s also clear it up that it’s NOT her picture.
— Pirated Daactarni (@MonoChronica) August 2, 2020
This profile might be of a random guy who is using a girl’s picture!
And on top of that whole FAKE DEATH drama!
Shame on you @Aisha_must_sayz ! (4/n) pic.twitter.com/o46UkXtirC
All of this clearly indicates that the news of the young doctor’s death was almost certainly fake. A further photograph shared by the account serves almost as a confirmation that the whole story was a concocted lie. The image, where the account claims the family is grieving the doctor’s death, shows the doctor at the hospital sitting with her family members and smiling.
Patients suffering from the Coronavirus are not permitted to mingle with their family without masks, PPE, gloves and other adequate precautions. In the image that was shared, neither the family nor the supposed doctor were wearing anything that could be interpreted as protection against infection. Such conduct is not permitted at any hospital that treats Coronavirus patients. Therefore, quite clearly, the whole thing is an elaborate lie.
‘Journalists’ who are often found railing against fake news and chastising ordinary citizens for falling for the same fell for the lie hook, line and sinker. They did not bother even for a moment to verify the news before offering agonising condolence for the supposed victim. There were numerous verified handles on Twitter that helped spread the fictional story.
Among them was former NDTV journalist Nidhi Razdan.
She later deleted her tweet and said that the account appeared fake. “You have to be really sick to pretend to have COVID,” she said.
Shahid Siddiqui, too, posted a condolence message on his profile that reflected some excruciating pain. He said, “Covid19 took away this flower only leaving its fragrance and love till her last breath.”
One Asim Jofa with a verified handle posted a message of condolence as well. He shared the ‘last message’ from Dr Aisha before her apparent death and said that she had passed away yesterday.
Professional fake news peddler Rana Ayyub mourned the death of Dr Aisha as well.
Story of Dr Aisha moved so many people that Congress supporters even ended up planning what to do in case they themselves die.
Really? It’s not true? That’s very odd. Don’t know why somebody would create such a hoax but it was very emotive. The emotions people felt was real. I ended up writing to my sister about what she should do if something happened to me. https://t.co/OaKgFQeZUJ
— Sanjukta Basu (@sanjukta) August 2, 2020
News18, in fact, ran an entire story on her. The report said that Dr Aisha had become a doctor only recently and was extremely happy. She, however, got infected with the Wuhan Coronavirus and succumbed to it on Eid. They even dubbed her a ‘Corona warrior’.
There was some hilarity during the charade as well. One person who had even conversed with the individual running the Dr Aisha account realised soon enough that it was a fake account and was rather dejected when truth stared at him right at his face.
“Kyu kisi ko wafa ke badle, wafa nahi milti” 😭 pic.twitter.com/Z6sVWl3jRU
— Doctor Wait (@Drpratiksha1) August 2, 2020
Only one person, however, was arrogant enough to justify the whole affair and said that it did not matter if the story was fake or not. “The virus IS killing very young people too, and we have to stop behaving like it isn’t just because we are bored of being cautious,” she said. Needless to say, Hiba Beg was formerly a journalist with The Quint.
The manner in which the whole of Twitter fell for the fake account could serve as a remarkable study in the mannerisms of the human mind. One is also driven to think that the name of the individual, Aisha, and the fact that she was claimed to have died on Eid could have perhaps motivated the ‘secular-liberal’ brigade to fall for it as they are always on the prowl for a new Muslim victim to fawn over.
One suspects that individuals such as Rana Ayyub and Shahid Siddiqui perhaps would not have readily fallen for the fake account if the account carried a name that could not be tied with a particular religion. Regardless, it was another instance where the ‘secular-liberal’ brigades’s quest to find the perfect Muslim victim fell flat on its face.
