Genuine-sounding voice message claiming to be from ambulance worker is incorrect

ASK FULL FACT: ANSWERED

Viral videos claiming to show scenes inside St Mary’s Hospital were not filmed in the UK

Two separate video clips spread widely this week, claiming to show London St Mary’s Hospital struggling to cope with the pressure of coronavirus.

The first showed patients lying in corridors, and the second showed rooms filled with body bags. The first video was actually footage from two Madrid hospitals. If you pause at the right moment, you can tell it is not of a UK hospital as the exit signs are written in Spanish.

The second video was filmed in Ecuador. Although faintly, you can hear ‘Hospital General Del Nortel’ being mentioned on the tannoy at one point.

And a man’s name is briefly visible on one of the body bags. Spanish fact-checkers Maldita looked into this and found the name on the bag matched up with a man who had recently died in Guayaquil, where the hospital is based.

FACT CHECK

Beware of people capitalising on the uncertainty around Boris Johnson’s condition

This week, a Twitter account impersonating the BBC claimed that the Prime Minister had died. Before being deleted, the tweet was shared hundreds of times including by verified journalists in Canada and Australia.

It’s important to look for the verified tick - the BBC’s Breaking News account has a blue verified tick next to it, whereas this fake account did not. It is unlikely the death of the Prime Minister would be announced by an unverified Twitter account.

By clicking on the profile, you could see the account only had a handful of followers, and the errant handle @BBCBreaki could be easily missed by people skim-reading.

If you see something like this, take the time to look into the account, see what trustworthy sources are saying, and make an informed decision before deciding to share.

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Also this week...

• Viral breathing advice needs context
• You only need to keep your cat indoors if you are infected or self-isolating
• No, a survey DID NOT find a majority of doctors saying hydroxychloroquine is the most effective treatment for Covid-19
• And the £20 note does not have a secret message about 5G on it

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