Fact Check: Old News Clip Of Covid-19 Related Deaths Goes Viral As Recent

Claim
168 people died of coronavirus infections in a single day.
Fact
No, the viral news clip is old.

Even as Nepal confirms new cases of coronavirus infections, a video claiming that 168 coronavirus infected people died in a single day in Nepal is going viral on TikTok.

With the rise of Covid-19 infections in India, the Nepal government has become alert. According to the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, around 100 people have tested positive in a span of one month.

Against this backdrop, TikTok user @kushalchhetry610 posted a video carrying a news clip reporting about the coronavirus related deaths in Nepal. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Once again 168 people died of coronavirus in Nepal. Will there be a lockdown in Nepal again? From today, schools, colleges and public buses will stop operating.” The news anchor is heard saying, ‘An additional 168 coronavirus-infected people have died in a single day in Nepal and 9305 new cases have been detected. This has taken the death toll to 4252, while the total number of infected people have reached 422,359. According to the Ministry of Health, 9305 people tested positive when swabs of 20786 people tested.”  

 The video posted on June 7 has garnered 42.8k likes, 7917 users have shared it and 447 people have commented until the last count.

The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.

Newschecker found the claim to be false.

Fact Check /Verification

To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker split the video into several key-frames and ran reverse searches on them. The searches, however, led to a few videos indicating that the clip was extracted from Nepal Times online.

We then closely observed the viral video and noticed the logo of Nepal Times on the mug in front of the news anchor.

We also looked up the news regarding the status of coronavirus infection in Nepal and found that the Nepal government has adopted precaution measures at Nepal’s borders after the detection of a handful of cases. However, there is no indication that the coronavirus has spiked at an alarming rate with the daily deaths of 168.

Further, we ran a keyword search by taking clues from the viral video. A search led us to a news report, dated May 12, 2021, posted on popular onlinekhabar.com, which matched the death toll and news infections. Our results pointed us to the second wave of Covid-19 in Nepal which began in April 2021 and lasted till July the same year.

We searched the YouTube channel of Nepal Times online by using the clues at our disposal and found a video, dated May 12, 2021, which exactly matched the viral video.

We also found a news article, dated May 12, 2021, published on BBC online. The news article also reported about the record 168 single day deaths due to coronavirus.

Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral clip is from May 2021 when Nepal was in the midst of the second wave of Covid-19.

Conclusion

No, the coronavirus has not spread at an alarming rate in Nepal. An old news clip from May 2021 has resurfaced as recent.

Result: False

 Sources
Nepal Times /YouTube , May 12, 2021
Onlinekhabar, May 12, 2021
BBC /Nepali, May 12, 2021

If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at [email protected]  You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form.