CLAIM
Amid multiple unverified videos and photos which are being circulated on internet in wake of the coronavirus outbreak, a video has come to light which is being shared to establish that Chinese authorities are blocking roads to contain coronavirus.
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 absolutely false.
The video is from 2017, when it first surfaced online and shows police cars besieging a Land Rover.
WHAT WE FOUND
After breaking the video to several key frames using the InVid google chrome extemsion, we carried out a reverse image search. That directed us to a freewechat.com article. The article mentioned that the video is from Shandong Wudi in China.
Picking up hints from there we carried out a Google keyword search using terms ‘Shandong Wudi Car Accident’. We then came across another article from February 2015.
The article mentioned that, “on 4 February 2017, a man from Shandong Wudi released a video showing dozens of police cars besieging a Land Rover in a scene like a police bandit.”
While we haven’t been able to independently verify the video, the fact that it has been in circulation way before the outbreak was announced on 31 December 2019, proved that it has nothing to do with Coronavirus.
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