Video of mock drill in Bhagalpur Central Jail shared as jail official infected with coronavirus

A video of a man surrounded by policemen lying on the ground is being shared on social media. The man can be seen constantly coughing and demanding water. Alt News has received several requests to fact-check the video on its official mobile application. It has been shared with the message, “A top official of Bhagalpur jail infected with corona. (भागलपुर जेल का बड़ा बाबू कोरोना पीड़ित.)”

On 11 April 2020, Facebook user Gulam Sarwar posted this video with the same message. The clip was viewed 11,000 times at the time of writing (archive).

The video is also viral on Facebook with an identical message.

Fact-check

Upon searching with keywords ‘bhagalpur central jail corona’, we found the same video uploaded on YouTube on April 11, 2020. The YouTube channel described the video as a mock drill in Bhagalpur Central Jail.

A subsequent search led us to an article published by Dainik Jagran on April 14. The report said a mock drill on how to rescue a coronavirus patient was conducted in Bhagalpur Central Jail. The patient seen in the video is the prison cell keeper. According to the report, this video quickly became viral on social media with the false claim that a jail official was infected with the virus. Following this, the administration complained to SSP Ashish Bharti who said that action will be taken against those who circulate unverified videos on the outbreak.

Dainik Bhaskar had also reported on the case.

Media outlets The Lallantop and The Quint had published fact-check articles when the video was viral in April.

Therefore, a video of a coronavirus mock drill conducted in Bhagalpur Central Jail in April was shared with the false claim that a jail official contracted the virus.