Photo of Couple at Airport Shared as Italian Doctors' Last Moments

The man and the woman in the photo are a couple who were spotted and clicked by an Associated Press (AP) photographer Emilio Morenatti nearly two weeks ago.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

A viral message which shows a couple standing close to each other is being shared online with a claim that the two of them are doctors in Italy and have been diagnosed with coronavirus.

The claim along with the picture reads, “इटली के यह दोनों पति पत्नी डॉ है और दोनों ने दिन रात लग कर 134 मरोजो को बचाया लेकिन खुद 8 वे दिन कोरोना वायरस से बीमार हो गए और अलग अलग कमरे में शिफ्ट कर दिए गए जब दोनों मिया बीवी डाक्टर को लगा कि हम बच नहीं पाएंगे दोनों हॉस्पिटल के लांज में,खड़े होकर मुहब्बत भरी नज़रों से एक दूसरे को देखा और आधे घंटे के बाद दोनों मर गए |”

[Translation: This doctor couple from Italy have worked tirelessly to save 134 patients, but on the 8th day they themselves feel sick. They have been shifted to different rooms. When the two sensed that they will not survive they met in the lounge of the hospital. Both of them passed away after two hours.]

(Source: Facebook)

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TRUE OR FALSE?

It’s false.

The couple was spotted and clicked by an Associated Press (AP) photographer Emilio Morenatti nearly two weeks ago.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We found the image on AP’s website where it stated that it was a couple at the Barcelona airport, and the image was clicked on 12 March 2020.

The caption reads, “A couple kiss, at the Barcelona Airport, Spain, Thursday, March 12, 2020. Airlines and travelers are still sorting out the new travel ban that President Donald Trump announced late Wednesday, barring most foreign visitors from continental Europe for 30 days.”

(Photo: AP/Emilio Morenatti)

On doing a google search, we also came across articles on Chicago Tribune, Fox News and The News Tribune, which carried the same image and attributed it to AP.

Evidently, the picture was spun with a fake narrative and shared extensively over social media as countries continue battling the virus.

You can read all our coronavirus related fact-checked stories here.

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