A video clip of a woman who contracted COVID-19 speaking from a hospital bed about 'not taking chances' is being shared with a false claim that identifies her as Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, wife of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for coronavirus after returning from a trip to London, the Prime Minister's Office of Canada said in a statement on March 13, 2020. However, the woman in the viral video is a resident of the UK and not Sophie Trudeau.
The nearly two-minute long clip shows the woman with a breathing tube and visible difficulties in breathing speak to the camera.
"If anyone still smokes put the cigarettes down because I'm telling you now you need your lungs," the woman says.
"And please, none of you take any chances, I mean it. Because of it gets really bad then you're gonna end up here."
The clip is being shared with the following misleading caption: "The Canadian PM's wife. For people who are still not taking it seriously"
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FACT-CHECK
Using a keyword search (Canada wife warns) on Facebook we found other posts repeating the same misleading claims. However, one of the videos we came across sported the logo of the Daily Mail, a British tabloid.
39-year old Tara Lane Langston, was diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month recorded the video while being treated at the Hillingdon Hospital in west London, the Daily Mail reported. Langston, a mother of two, who works as a waitress made the video and sent it as a WhatsApp message to colleagues warning to take care. The clip showing Langston having breathing difficulties while speaking went viral online.
BOOM found other Facebook posts from family members of Langston which confirm her identity.
Nicole Poppy Keatley, a woman who identified Langston as her sister, wrote Langston was of normal health when she got the virus.
"Just because the news is highlighting the elderly & people with under lining health issues as being high risk that doesn't mean if/ when you catch this your body will be able to handle/ fight it easily," Keatley wrote. "Taras had BIG issues breathing & with the help of the hospital & NHS she's back talking & can share her experience," she added further.
At the time of publishing, the United Kingdom had 4,014 confirmed cases of Coronavirus with 177 deaths, according to data maintained by John Hopkins University & Medicine.
Meanwhile Sophie Trudea, the wife of Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in isolation after having tested positive for COVID-19. "She will remain in isolation for the time being. She is feeling well, is taking all the recommended precautions and her symptoms remain mild," the BBC reported the PM's office as saying in a statement. The statement further said that Justin Trudeau did not show any symptoms but was isolating as a precaution. (Read more about it here)