Fact Check: The last case of polio in India was not found on January 12. Amitabh Bachchan made a false claim

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan tweeted that it has been 11 years since the last case of polio was reported in India on January 12, 2023. Amitabh Bachchan is UNICEF’s brand ambassador in the campaign against polio.

Source: Twitter

He captioned in his tweet: “ T 4525 – This year .. 12 January 2023 .. it is 11 years since the last reported case of Polio in India .. thanks to your contribution.” 

Source: Twitter

Along with this, Amitabh Bachchan made another tweet and apologized and said And apologies for the mistake in the polio info .. it was actually 12 years and not 11 years since the last reported case of Polio in India  .. on 12 January 2011 .. 12 years. I apologize.

Fact Check:

Source: Scroll

The DFRAC team searched some keywords on Google to investigate the claim made by Amitabh Bachchan. During this time we found an article by Smitha Nair on scroll.in published on 13 January 2021. Exactly a decade ago, on January 13, 2011, the last case of polio was reported in India.

Source: gavi.org

The gavi.org report said that the last case of polio in India was reported on January 13, 2011, in Howrah, West Bengal. Since then, India has become free of the disease, officially receiving polio-free certification from the World Health Organization on 27 March 2014.

Conclusion:

Therefore, it is clear from the fact check of DFRAC that Amitabh Bachchan’s claim of getting the last case of polio in India on January 12 is fake. The last case of polio in India was reported on January 13, 2011, in Howrah, West Bengal.