Narayanganj Mayor Ivy’s coronavirus death rumour sparked by ‘TV news ticker’

A rumour has spread that Narayanganj Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy has died from coronavirus at a time when she requested the government to impose curfew in the city to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

The “news” first appeared in a private TV station’s ticker on Sunday afternoon.

A user posted a screenshot of the ticker from Ekattor TV on the Facebook group - “Awami League Beat Reporters’ Group”.

It read: “Narayanganj City Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy dies from coronavirus in New York”.   

A reader called bdnews24.com via phone and asked whether the “news” was true.

Narayanganj City Corporation CEO Abul Amin brushed aside the “news” as “baseless”.

“The mayor is fine now,” he said.

Ekttaor TV has denied having a hand in spreading the rumour.

“It has been made from first and last parts [of different tickers],” Mozammel Babu, editor-in-chief of Ekattor, told bdnews24.com. 

“There was one on Selina Hayat Ivy and then another. The two were added. It happens to us all the time,” he said.

The rumour took social media by storm.

Monjur Mohammad Shahriar, deputy director at the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, posted a message mourning Ivy on a Facebook page – “Ekjon Shahriar Monjur Shahriar”.

He withdrew the post after sometime and claimed in another post that his ID and page had been hacked by “miscreants”.

“Please don’t get misled. The news is not correct. The mayor has urged to lock Narayanganj down. She is fine,” he said.   

The user, Shahriar, later removed the second post as well, but their screenshots had already gone viral.

The authorities have put three areas in Narayanganj on lockdown as it recorded a cluster of 11 coronavirus cases, including two deaths, until Sunday.

The city corporation said in a statement that Ivy, a doctor by training, fears the situation will spiral out of control if the authorities do not act on her advice to impose curfew.

In New York, at least 73 Bangladeshis have died from the coronavirus as the pandemic has hit the US hard with more than 300,000 known cases and over 9,000 deaths.