Fact Check: Did BBC article link Black Fungus cases to Cow urine?

A morphed screenshot of a BBC article headlined ‘Black fungus: Indian scientist find link with cow urine 9,000 cases of rare infection [sic]’ is widely circulating on WhatsApp. The byline says that it has been authored by Soutik Biswas.

The article further read, ” Scientists in India have discovered a link of the blank fungus infection with cow urine. Doctors say there is a link between steroids used to treat Covid and reaction to cow urine and have urged the Government to make the public aware of the risks. India has reported more than 8, 800 cases of deadly “blank fungus” in a growing epidemic and has urged the public to avoid cow urine. Doctors have told the BBC it seems to strike 12 to 18 days after recovery from covid”

The image is being shared with various captions in multiple languages incluidng Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and Malayalam on Facebook.

However, it is said that BBC has not published any such report. Both the media outlet and author Soutik Biswas called it fake.

The BBC Press Office issued a statement saying, “This is a fake post. We would urge audiences to check our website bbc.com/news.”