FALSE: Video of Wuhan, China in ‘2nd wave’ of coronavirus infections

Claim: A video shared on Facebook showed the current situation in China as it battles the second wave of coronavirus infections.

Facebook page CALOY random video posted a clip on May 23 showing 3 corpses being placed in a single body bag.

It captioned its post: “WUHAN CHINA 2ND WAVE putting 3 children bodies in one bag in hospital in wuhan china… to save 2 bags or to count only one in death toll?”

As of writing, the video had over 325,000 views, 8,800 shares, 2,500 reactions, and 341 comments. Facebook Claim Check flagged the video for fact checkers to verify. It was reported at least 58 times on Facebook for containing false information.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: The video is not new. On February 14, UK-based tabloid Daily Express published an article about it saying the 3 young siblings in the video allegedly died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

A reported cluster of cases in Wuhan did trigger fears of a second wave in the city. 

However, a reverse image search showed that the video in the post has been available online as early as February 2020. It was included in a tweet dated February 12. 

China lifted its travel ban on Wuhan residents on April 7 after recording fewer cases of COVID-19. 

On May 17, Agence France-Presse reported that the Chinese government’s senior medical advisor warned that the second wave may happen due to a lack of immunity among the population. This came after new clusters emerged in northeast provinces and in the central city of Wuhan. (READ: Top China expert warns of potential second coronavirus wave)

The novel coronavirus infected more than 5.4 million worldwide and killed more than 344,000 as of May 26. In the Philippines, 14,669 cases were recorded – 886 of whom died and 3,412 recovered. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

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