Fact Check: Is the 'tomato' virus harmful to humans? What is infecting tomatoes?

re has been a wide-scale spread of fear and danger because of viral nature of coronavirus. Along with all news about COVID-19, re have also been many false and misleading news reports. A recent claim was made by a news source which claimed that crops of tomatoes are w getting infected with a virus named 'tomato' virus or ‘tiranga’ virus, which can prove to be deadly for people who are consuming m.

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Origin:

tomatoes' tiranga virus fake claims were majorly made on Twitter and Whatsapp. People took to Twitter to share ir fear and shock that tomatoes w contain a certain type of virus that can be harmful to humans. y also shared a clipping of a news report made by a certain news channel, which threw light on this ‘virus’ that has been gripping all tomatoes. report on channel claimed that this virus can be more dangerous than COVID-19.

While people started believing that tomato or ‘tiranga’ virus could prove to be more dangerous than coronavirus, it is a misleading claim. farmers in Ahmednagar, Pune and Nashik districts in Maharashtra had come forward and talked about how y have faced a loss of tomato crops on a massive scale, as reported by a leading daily. report shared how about 60 % of crop was ruined in 10 days and thus farmers claimed that a certain ‘Tiranga’ virus has been behind this decimation.

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tomatoes are infected with an unkwn disease and it is t harmful to humans

Ajit Navale, who is General Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha, shared with ar news source that plants are drying up and ripe tomatoes are losing its shape. This has caused major panic in farmers that this ‘virus’ from tomatoes can also ruin or crops. Thus, farmers in Maharashtra are distressed about situation.

farmer community has named virus as 'Tiranga virus' since three colours have been spotted in infected tomatoes, as reported by a regional news article. A local farmer named Rangnath Bhalke shared that farmers decided to call it 'tiranga', and name is w commonly used to refer to unkwn virus by media portals. medical ncy or government body has confirmed its name to be 'Tiranga' as disease infecting tomatoes is still unidentified.

While fact that tomato crops in Maharashtra are facing some unkwn issues and are getting ruined is true, re is evidence that se tomatoes are harmful to humans. A news website quoted Indian virologist Dr Jacob T. John, who said that plant viruses cant infect humans in any way as human cells are different from that of plants. Thus, while it is a matter of concern as to why crops are getting ruined, so-called ‘ tomato virus’ will t spread its way through humans. re have been tomato virus symptoms as well. 

Agri News Network also came up with an official letter, claiming that unidentified cause of tomato crops getting ruined will t affect humans in any way. Dr BNS Murthy, Horticulture Commissioner, Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare spoke about same on Agri News Network website. He wrote:

second part of story that eating such fruits would cause much more complications than that of Coronavirus is absurd. As of date plant virus affecting plants has affected human beings as y lack receptors for such an infection.

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Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and politician Prithviraj Chauhan also tweeted about this hoax. He wrote that such fake news must t be circulated. Here is his tweet:

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Google Trends Analysis

People have been trying to look for tomato virus or tiranga virus. Here is a comparison of searches in-between 'tomato virus' and 'tiranga virus'. blue is 'tomato virus' search while red is 'tiranga virus' search. 

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