Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
Claim:
Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte broke down publicly due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Verification:
Italy’s world-topping toll from the coronavirus pandemic approached 5,500 on Sunday after the Mediterranean country reported another 651 deaths. As the whole world is united in the fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak, viral images, videos and graphics have been flooding social media. An image is doing the rounds on various social media platforms claiming that Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe brokedown publicly due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
We found that several users on social media had shared the viral post on their respective handles.
The text, along with the viral image of the post reads, “Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, We have lost control. We have killed the epidemic physically and mentally. I can’t understand what more we can do; all solutions are exhausted on the ground. Our only hope remains up in the sky, God, rescue your people.”
The Italian Prime Minister,Giuseppe Conte cries in public.We have lost it on Earth.We now seek mercy from the Creator.We have lost control.We have killed the epidemic physically and mentally.All solutions are exhausted.Our only hope remains up in the Sky.Over 4,800 deaths.
pic.twitter.com/8QFGvF802q— Hon.Babaisah Ngulde (@BabaisahNgulde) March 22, 2020
The media outlets, including ‘Punjabi Tribune’ and ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ have published the story claiming the same. The viral image was also sent by several readers to Newschecker’s WhatsApp helpline number for verification.
Fact check:
As we began fact-checking the claim, we found many social media users calling out the media outlets for the picture they claimed to be of Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe.
Using reverse-image search on the Google search engine, we found a post-dated article on the Brazilian news website Ponder360, which published the same viral image. According to the article, the image of the leader in tears is of Brazil President Bolsonaro and not of Italy’s PM Giuseppe Conte. We found that the image was taken by Sergio Lima, for a news publication, Poder 360.
According to the article, in front of a hall filled with authorities, the Brazil president cried when he remembered the knife attack he suffered in Juiz de Fora (MG), during the 2018 election campaign.”
We began fact-checking the claim whether the Italian Prime Minister gave any statement of losing all the hope to cope with the novel coronavirus. We looked for media reports but did not find any authentic information to corroborate. We also checked the Italian Prime Minister and President’s official Twitter handles and websites but did not see any such statement given by PM Giuseppe. However, during our search, we found a Twitter post by Giuseppe encouraging and motivating the Italians to fight against the Covid-19.
159 anni fa veniva proclamata l’Unità d’Italia. Da allora il nostro Paese ha affrontato mille difficoltà, guerre mondiali, il regime fascista. Ma gli italiani, con orgoglio e determinazione, hanno sempre saputo rialzarsi e ripartire. A testa alta.
— Giuseppe Conte (@GiuseppeConteIT) March 17, 2020
Conclusion:
It is evident from our fact check that the image viral on social media is of Brazilian President Bolsonaro and not of Italy’s PM Giuseppe Conte. The claim shared by several Social media users and media outlets is hence false.
Result: False
Sources
Google Search
Media Reports
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Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
