Chinese Converting To Islam To Prevent Coronavirus? Fake Alert!

A viral video is being shared to claim that Chinese citizens are converting to Islam to prevent coronavirus. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

Amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, social media is witnessing a deluge of unverified claims. In one such case, a video showing hundreds of Chinese citizens converting to Islam is being used to claim that these people are converting because coronavirus doesn’t infect Muslims.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here. 

The video is also being shared on Facebook with the same misleading claim.

TRUE OR FALSE?

The Quint can confirm that while the video has not been altered in any form, the claim with which it is being circulated is completely false.

Firstly, the video has been in circulation way before the coronavirus outbreak was first announced by Chinese officials on 31 December 2019.

Second, there have been no official studies which have suggested a link of the virus to any religion.

WHAT WE FOUND

While we have not been able to independently verify the video, a Yandex reverse image search using one of the key frames helped us trace it back to July 2019.

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