Coronavirus: No, this video of bats removed from a rooftop is not from China - Alt News
Kinjal
11th February 2020 / 7:54 pm
On February 10, The New York Times reported that Coronavirus killed 97 people in a single day in China. The epidemic has spread to other countries as well and according to several media reports, India ranks 17th at risk of importing coronavirus cases.
A three-minute video of bats being cleared from a rooftop has gone viral. Several Marathi social media users posted the video with the text, “They are saying the bat that was responsible for Coronavirus’s origination in Wuhan province in China….that bat’s presence in this house you can see… (Translated from Marathi: चीन देशातील वुहाण प्रांतात जेथे कोरोना रोगराईचा ज्या वटवाघळांनमुळे लागण झाल्याची शक्यता आहे त्या वटवाघळांचे येथील एका घरातील उपस्थिती किती आहे ते पहा….).”
On February 2, a Facebook user shared (archive) the viral video along with the Marathi text. Since then it has been viewed over 900 times.
चीन देशातील वुहाण प्रांतात जेथे कोरोना रोगराईचा ज्या वटवाघळांनमुळे लागण झाल्याची शक्यता आहे त्या वटवाघळांचे येथील एका घरातील उपस्थिती किती आहे ते पहा….
Posted by Hemant Parab on Sunday, February 2, 2020
The video has been posted (archive) on Twitter with the same message in Hindi, “चीन देशातील वुहाण प्रांतात जेथे कोरोना रोगराईचा ज्या वटवाघळांनमुळे लागण झाल्याची शक्यता आहे त्या वटवाघळांचे येथील एका घरातील उपस्थिती किती आहे ते पहा सारांश हिंदी में चायना में जहाँ से कोरोना वायरस फैला उस शहर के एक मकान के छत से कितने पंछी दुबक कर बैठे हैं….देखिए “
This post was shared by other Facebook accounts as well.
Alt News did a keyword search on Google and found a 12-minute video which shows bats being cleared from a rooftop. The video was uploaded by Istueta Roofing in 2011 which is a roofing company based out Miami, Florida in the US. Alt News noticed that the viral video begins at 6:55 mark.
The viral video has been created by compiling different portions of the original clip. At the 30-second mark, it has the exact frame as seen at the 3:20 mark in Istueta Roofing’s video. In both the screenshots (attached below), we see that tiles have the same initials – KTP.
Alt News noticed that Istueta Roofing has uploaded other videos of the incident. (video 1 and video 2). Therefore, the social media claim that video is from Wuhan, China where coronavirus originated, is false.
Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.
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