Fact check: Is Wibs bread company sealed after worker tested positive for COVID-19?

Claim: Wibs bread company got sealed after a factory worker tested positive for COVID-19. 

Rating: False

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What is the rumour about?

• A WhatsApp message is being forwarded that states Wibs bread company, which is one of the major bread supplying companies, has shut down its factory recently.
• The WhatsApp message states that a Wibs bread worker was tested positive for Coronavirus recently, after which the factory had to be closed and sealed. Take a look at the WhatApp message below. 

Image courtesy: WhatsApp forwards

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Who is spreading the rumour?

Social media forwards, mainly on WhatsApp, have been spreading the rumour since yesterday. Some people are even asking the authorised officials to check this news.  

Image courtesy: Twitter

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Image courtesy: Twitter

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Google Trends 

After an analysis of Google Trends with respect to Wibs bread company shut after worker tests positive for COVID-19 rumour, one can see that people have been hugely interested to know about the same. The maximum number of searches have been done on April 29, 2020. 

Image courtesy: Google Trends 

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Republic World did a fact check 

• Republic World did a fact check on the Wibs (Western India Bakers Private Limited) bread company shutting down after worker tests positive for COVID-19 rumour, and the claims were found to be unverified as well as False as of now. 
• There have been no official reports or statements made by Western India Bakers Private Limited as of now. However, similar news of Wibs factory shutting down gained prominence in September 2019 due to a dispute between the Wibs owners. 
• In September 2019, the manufacturing of Wibs bread, Honeybell cake, tutti frutti bread and pav bread were halted due to the dispute between company owners. Wibs was founded in 1973 by an Irani family of Mumbai. However, after the death of the elder brother Hoshang Irani, one of the brothers named Khodadad Irani filed a lawsuit against brother and partner Shahriar Irani. So the production at Wibs factories stopped from September 19, 2019, until the brothers made a preliminary deal to continue the commercial operations at the factories around 15 days later. The company had about 3000 employees in September 2019 with 68 distributors and when the factories stopped to work for a few days, their distribution could not sell any other bread due to the exclusivity clause with Wibs which caused huge losses to many people.

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Wibs bread's main factory is located at Dockyard Road in Mumbai, while three other factories are located in several parts of the city. Wibs produces 3,000 slices per hour and holds a 46% market share in Mumbai’s sliced bread market as of September 2019 and reportedly 90% of Mumbai’s sandwich sellers use Wibs bread.

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