Fact checker: Did Modi govt appeal not to buy Chinese products on Holi due to coronavirus?

The festival of Holi is just around the corner. Meanwhile, a message on social media is becoming increasingly viral. It is being claimed that one can be infected with the coronavirus by using  China imported products. This is the reason the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Indian government have jointly appealed to the citizens to refrain from the purchase of any imported Chinese product.

What is Viral-

A graphic card is being shared, in which  World Health Organization is written at the top followed by the Ashoka Pillar. Besides, Satyamev Jayate and Government of India is also written on the card.

The card reads, "Holi is one of the major festivals of  India which is going to be celebrated in a few days, Many products including Gulaal and colours are imported from China due to cost-effectiveness. Polymer Kosi is one of those product which remains in huge demand due to lower price. It is to be  Informed that Kosi comes from the Chinese city of Hunai, where the coronavirus outbreak started . Thus it is an appeal to all of you not to use goods imported from China.

What is truth

The first thing to note is that the viral graphic card has a lot of language mistakes, which is enough to doubt it. Then we did a search in this regard on the Internet, so we could not find any reliable news which suggests that the government has issued any such advisory. We did not find any press release issued by the ministry in this regard. Any advisory issued by WHO or Government of India is also on the official website, but no such advisory was seen on the official website.

In the investigation of Webdunia, it has been found that the viral message is fake. The Government of India or the World Health Organization has not issued any such advisory.