Video of COVID-19 patient from London shared as Surat woman who recently tested postive - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
21st March 2020 / 5:04 pm
In Surat, a 21-year-old woman, who had returned from London, was tested positive for coronavirus. At the time of writing, the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the state of Gujarat has touched 13. A video, claimed to be of the COVID-19 patient from Surat, is now circulating on social media. The woman in the video urges people to not take any chances with the deadly coronavirus while informing that she is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). After pointing at her cannula, she pleads people who still smoke to quit smoking. “I am in the intensive care unit. I can’t breathe without this. They’ve had to sew that into my artery. I have got a cannula, another cannula and a catheter. I am actually ten times better right now than what I was before. I don’t even know I have lost count of the days,” says the woman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvgFKyuWB9Q
The clip is getting circulated on WhatsApp with the claim that she is the COVID-19 patient from Surat and her name is “Rita Bachkaniwala”. Furthermore, the message emotionally appeals to the public to follow the suggestions given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It points at the consequence of not taking the virus seriously while citing the poor health condition of the patient. It reads, “सूरत में लंदन से लौटी पारसी युवती रीता बचकानीवाला ने लोगों को जागरूक करने के लिए एक अत्यंत साहस का काम किया है और आईसीयू से अपना एक वीडियो बनाकर डाला है ताकि लोग जान सकें कि करोना वायरस कितना घातक है रीटा बचकानीवाला इटली से लंदन और लंदन से सूरत आई और 4 दिन के बाद उनकी तबीयत बहुत खराब हो गई और डॉक्टरों ने उन्हें करोना की पुष्टि की अब वह सांस नहीं ले पा रही है उन्होंने खुद बताया कि उन्हें बाहर से ऑक्सीजन दिया जा रहा है इसलिए वह सांस ले पा रही है इसलिए मित्रों मोदी जी ने जो कहा है हमें उन सुझावों पर अमल करना ही पड़ेगा”
The video was shared by a few more users on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Also being claimed to be the Canadian PM’s wife
Another claim getting shared with the video, says, “The Canadian PM wife. For those who are still not taking it seriously 😒She has access to the best but she is still suffering. Please stay put”.
This claim – the woman in the video is Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau who had recently tested positive for coronavirus after returning from a trip to London – is also doing the rounds on WhatsApp and Facebook.
Alt News came across a tweet by a fact-checking Twitter handle Hoaxeye, which informed that the video of an alleged coronavirus patient was circulating in the UK and it turns out “the video was real”.
Yesterday one video of an alleged Coronavirus patient in UK raised a lot of discussion and questions. It was impossible to verify any of the claims. Based on new info, it seems the video was real. Update here: https://t.co/jPzN0oyRiS
— HoaxEye (@hoaxeye) March 20, 2020
Tara Jane Langston, the woman in the video, is a 39-year-old patient from London. According to UK’s news outlet Daily Mail, the mother-of-two was rushed to hospital last Friday and diagnosed with COVID-19 on Sunday. She is now out of Intensive care and is recovering.
Langston had reportedly sent this video to a WhatsApp group with her colleagues. Speaking to The Guardian, her sister Nicole Poppy said, “One of the people she works with shared it. Never asked her or told her it went viral while she was in her hospital bed and didn’t know till the next day”.
MISERICÓRDIA!.!.!. E ainda idiotas falando que é apenas uma gripe forte … bando de retardado .!!.!.
Posted by Luis Gustavo Moretti on Wednesday, 18 March 2020
According to her husband Richard, the couple had returned from Poland and later visited Auschwitz, where there were people from all over the world. But he believes she could have contracted the virus from the gym.
“People have to realise that they need to self-isolate, it’s the only way. Believe me. I can understand their mind-set because I had that attitude before of “it’s a load of nonsense, it’s just being all hyped up” before I got this– I wasn’t one to buy into all the hysteria. But then I got the coronavirus and I never again want to experience anything like it because it was a deeply unpleasant experience. That’s why I filmed myself in the ICU and sent it to my workmates because they were supposed to be all meeting up for a training event and I wanted to tell them not to go as it wasn’t worth the risk. They’d be better off staying at home self-isolating”, said Tara Jane Langston while speaking to Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Prime Minister’s office had informed that after having tested positive for coronavirus, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau will remain in isolation for time being. “Sophie Grégoire Trudeau was tested for COVID-19 today. The test came back positive. Also following medical advice, she will remain in isolation for the time being. She is feeling well is taking all the recommended precautions and her symptoms remain mild”, said the statement issued by PM’s office on March 13.
A video of a COVID-19 patient from London urging citizens to take the outbreak of coronavirus seriously was falsely shared with multiple false claims, with one of them suggesting that it is a public appeal by a patient who recently tested positive for the virus in Surat, and the other one suggesting that the lady is Canadian Prime Minister’s wife.
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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