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.
An 18- second video clip is doing the rounds across many social media platforms claiming that this is the situation in Italy right now. In the viral video, one can see a truck dropping bodies covered with plastic into a ditch. One can also hear background music playing throughout the video. The viral video has garnered more than 4 lakh views till the time of writing this report.
The text overlaid on the viral video reads, “position of Italy. Please stay at home. Save life”.
We found that several users shared the viral video on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Several readers sent the viral video to Newschecker’s WhatsApp helpline number for verification.
Fact Check
As we began fact-checking the claim, we found several social media users calling out the viral video as fake. One of the Facebook users ‘Renz Mallabo’ commented on the post saying that this is not genuine footage showing mass graves in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The video had been taken from a 2007 television miniseries called Pandemic.
With the help of relevant keywords, we performed Google search and found the trailer of television miniseries Pandemic on the YouTube channel ‘Peter Murphy,’ uploaded on December 21, 2013. We analyzed the viral video, and the video uploaded on YouTube frame to frame. At the one minute 24 second mark, we established that it is the same video viral on social media.
You can see the comparison between the viral video and video uploaded on YouTube below:
Conclusion
It is clear from our fact check that the video which is being widely circulated on social media is not from Italy. It is a movie scene that had been taken from a 2007 US television miniseries ‘Pandemic’.
Tools Used
- Google Search
- YouTube Search
Result: False
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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.
