Old videos of Centre/State government measures during previous COVID-19 waves being reshared amid increase in cases - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 20, 2023
Update (20 January 2023):
Another video is being shared on social media claiming that the Indian Railways has cancelled all passengers train till 31 March, amid concerns over rising COVID-19 cases. But the video shows an old news report published by the ‘ABP News’ channel on 22 March 2020. The description of the video states, “Indian Railways has cancelled all passenger trains till March 31st. A bare minimum level of service of suburban services of suburban trains and Kolkata Metro rail to continue up to midnight tonight. However, goods trains shall remain operational. The national transporter’s decision came amid reports of two fresh deaths from Covid-19 in Maharashtra and Bihar.” Lately, the Indian Railways did not announce the cancellation of trains over concerns about the spread of COVID-19 virus.
Update (03 January 2023):
Video-1:
Another news report video is being shared on social media claiming that the Uttar Pradesh Government has cancelled the Class 12Board Examinations 2023, amid concerns over rising COVID-19 cases. But the video shows an old news report of ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ published on 03 June 2021. Lately, the Uttar Pradesh Government did not issue any orders to cancel the class 12 Board Examinations.
Video-2:
A video of ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ news report is being shared on social media claiming that the Uttar Pradesh Government has issued orders to close schools across the state for 15 days, considering the cold weather conditions in the state. But the news report shared in the post was published by ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ on 30 December 2021. Lately, the Uttar Pradesh Government did announce the closing down of schools in a few districts amid the cold weather conditions. But the video shared in the post shows a one-year-old news report.
Update (02 January 2023):
Multiple videos are being shared on social media amid the concerns around rising COVID-19 cases in certain countries around the world, claiming them to be related to the measures taken by the governments to contain the spread of the virus.
Video 1:
This video is being shared on social media claiming it to be latest news report of PM Narendra Modi announcing 72 hours of lockdown in the country. This post shows a news anchor reporting about the night curfew and other restrictions imposed in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and other states. But the video shows an old ‘ABP News’ report published on 04 January 2022.
Video 2:
This video is being shared on social media claiming that the Rajasthan government has announced a complete lockdown in the state until March of this new year. But the video shared in the post shows a two-year-old news report published by the ‘ABP News’ channel on 21 March 2020.
Video 3:
This video is being shared on social media claiming it to be visuals of PM Modi announcing a 72-hour lockdown in the country. But the video shows an old video of Narendra Modi announcing the lockdown in the country in March 2020.
Video 4:
Another news report video informing 300 percent rise in COVID-19 cases in the last four weeks in Punjab is being shared on social media making a similar claim that a 72-hour lockdown is announced again in the country. But the video shows an old news report telecast by the ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ news website on 04 January 2022.
Video 5:
Another news report video is being shared on social media claiming that the Government of India has cancelled the CBSE 10 and 12 Board cases amid the rise of COVID-19 cases in the country. But the video shows an old news report published by the ‘Zee News’ channel on 14 April 2021.
Video 6:
A post sharing multiple news video clips is being shared on social media claiming that PM Narendra Modi has announced a lockdown again in the country and decided to shut down schools and cancel examinations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The video clippings shared in the post show recent news reports of ‘Zee News’, ‘News 18’ and others, but in these videos, it is nowhere reported Narendra Modi announced lockdown again in the country.
Video 7:
Another video is being shared on social media claiming that the Uttar Pradesh Government has issued orders to shut down schools and colleges until 23 January amid the rise of the COVID-19 cases. But the video shows an old news report published by ‘ABP News’ on 16 January 2022.
Published (29 December 2022):
Amid the anticipated surge in COVID-19 cases, multiple videos are being shared on social media claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and different state governments have imposed lockdown measures again in the country. They can be seen here and here. Let’s verify the claims made in these posts.
Video 1:
Claim: Latest visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing a complete lockdown again in the country.
Fact: This video shows an old video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to people on 24 March 2020. Amid the concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the country, PM Modi announced a complete lockdown for 21 days on 24 March 2020. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
This post claims that the visuals show Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing a complete lockdown again in the country. When we searched for this video using relevant keywords on the internet, a video with similar visuals was found published on Narendra Modi’s official YouTube channel on 24 March 2020. In an effort to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, on 24 March 2020, PM Narendra Modi called for a complete lockdown of the entire nation for the next 21 days.
Lately, when a YouTube channel published a video claiming that India is going for a complete lockdown again for seven days from 24 December 2022, PIB issued a clarification stating it as fake news.
‘CE News’ नामक एक #YouTube चैनल के वीडियो में यह दावा किया जा रहा है कि आज रात 12 बजे से 7 दिन तक भारत बंद रखने का फैसला लिया गया है#PIBFactCheck
▶️ इस वीडियो में किया गया दावा फ़र्ज़ी है
▶️ भारत सरकार ने ऐसा कोई फैसला नहीं लिया है pic.twitter.com/eX3QXdkOxn
Video 2:
Claim: Bihar government has issued orders to shut down schools, colleges and coaching institutes amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the country.
Fact: The video shows ‘News 18’ channel’s old news report about shutdown of schools and colleges in January 2022. Lately, Bihar government has not issued any such orders on closure of schools and colleges. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A video clip of the ‘News 18’ channel is being shared on social media claiming that the Bihar government has issued orders to shut down schools, colleges and coaching institutes amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the country. But the video was found published on the ‘News 18 Bihar’ Facebook page on 06 January 2022. In the wake of the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases in Bihar, the Bihar government decided to shut down schools, colleges and coaching institutions in January 2022.
Lately, when a few social media users shared old news video clippings and claimed that the West Bengal government has recently issued orders to shut down educational institutions amid the rise in COVID-19 cases, FACTLY published a fact-check article debunking that claim.
To sum it up, old videos of Centre/State government measures during previous COVID-19 waves are being reshared amid increase in cases.