Viral Video Showing Medical Staff Cheering is Not From New Zealand

The viral video which is being shared on social media is not from New Zealand but from Italy.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing healthcare workers in Italy cheering after the COVID ward in a hospital was closed following the recovery of the last patient is being shared as that from a New Zealand hospital.

It is noteworthy that on 8 June, New Zealand was declared corona-free with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announcing that the country would go back to business as usual after the recovery of its last coronavirus patient.

However, the viral video which is being shared on social media is not from New Zealand but from Italy.

THE CLAIM

The aforementioned video is being massively circulated on Facebook and Twiter.

The claim along with the video reads: “न्यूज़ीलैंड में आखिरी कोरोना मरीज़ ठीक होने के बाद आज कोरोना वार्ड बन्द कर दिया गया और सभी मरीज ठीक हो गये है।” [Translation: After the recovery of last coronavirus patient, the COVID ward in New Zealand has been closed and all patients have recovered.]

An archived version of the video can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of the video can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of the page can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of the Tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshots)

WHAT WE FOUND

In the top-right corner of the video, one can spot a ‘Visit Italy’ watermark.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

Next, we looked up for ‘Visit Italy’ on Facebook and Twitter and found the same video by uploaded by them on Facebook with a claim that it is from Matera’s hospital in Italy.

A Google search using keywords ‘Matera’s Hospital Closes COVID Ward’ helped us find several reports on Italian news websites which corroborated the details. One of the websites, ivl24 which carried this video, stated that the video shows celebrations of healthcare personnel at Matera’s ‘Madonna delle Grazie’ hospital.

Clearly, a video from Italy is being shared to falsely imply that it is from a hospital in New Zealand.

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