DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A message has started making rounds on WhatsApp that Russia has taken harsh measures to keep people confined to their homes due to novel coronavirus outbreak. See the message below:
Russian streets
The image claimed that Russia unleashed more than 500 lions on its streets to ensure that people are staying indoors due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak. The news apparently out at 13:17 local time, says Vladimir Putin released around 500 lions to make people stay indoors.
FACT CHECK
Digiteye India took it up and searched for the image on Youtube with strings such as “lion on city roads” and here’s the list of results:
Image of lion on city streets was shown in the third video which was merely a cover image for the video that opens in narrow filming. It belonged to a two-year-old video when a lion was spotted roaming in Gurgaon near New Delhi. Here’s the video with a cover image that was the same as used in the false coronavirus message on Russia:
Coronavirus Status in Russia:
Unlike China and South Korea, Russia has reported only one death so far and over 300 cases but not imposed any lockdown.
Claim: Russia released 500 lions on streets to make people stay indoors due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
Conclusion: Claim is false. It belonged to a two-year-old video/image when a lion was spotted roaming in Gurgaon near New Delhi.
Rating: Totally False–?????
