CLAIM
A video clip of news channel Aaj Tak, which shows people offering namaz, is being shared on social media with a claim that Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping has said that reading Quran can cure coronavirus.
The Facebook video, which garnered over 14,000 likes and about one million views, is being shared with a caption, “चीन के प्रधानमंत्री ने सारे मस्जिदों के ताला खोलने व नमाज़ व कूरान पढ़ने का आदेश जारी किया. कोरोना वायरस का इलाज सिर्फ कुरान में है.” [Translation: the Chinese prime minister has issued an order to unlock all the mosques and to offer prayers and read the Quran. The cure for coronavirus is only in the Quran.]
(An archived version of the post can be found here.)
The same video was shared by many other Facebook users with the exact same claim.
The video has also found its way to Twitter.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The video is being shared with a false claim and a false caption to attribute the information to Aaj Tak. In fact, the video in question is a clipped version of a ‘viral test’ conducted by Aaj Tak which itself was a fact-check report.
In reality, the visuals are from former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s visit to Beijing’s Nan Xia Po Mosque in 2004. The viral video is a 30-second bit taken out of a four-minute report by Aaj Tak.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH?
Taking a cue from the visuals in the video, we conducted a Google search “क्या कुरान पढ़ने से ठीक हो जायेगा कोणवीरस मरीज़” [Translation: Will coronavirus patients be cured by reading the Quran?]
Through this, we came across a video uploaded by Aaj Tak on 9 February 2020 titled, “ कुरान में मिलेगा कोरोना वायरस का इलाज? देखें, क्या है सच.” [Translation: Coronavirus cure in Quran claims viral post, know the truth.]
The four-minute Aaj Tak clip fact-checks the video being falsely claimed to be of the Chinese prime minister offering namaz at a mosque and admitting that reading Quran is the cure to novel coronavirus.
The video goes on to bring forth the facts of the visuals and debunk the viral claim. The same video was earlier debunked by The Quint. You can read the full story here.
Evidently, selective part of the fact-check video is being shared with a false context to spread misinformation.
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