A video of a mock drill by Chinese security officials to create awareness about public cooperation with police during the Coronavirus epidemic is falsely being shared as a true incident.
In the viral video, one can spot a 'SWAT' team in Hazmat suits forcefully restraining a man as he refuses to cooperate with officials when his car is stopped. The man begins to drive away when he is stopped by a police van and surrounded by men carrying riot shields and wearing uniforms with the word 'SWAT' written, and as he gets out of his car, a net is thrown over his head and he is grabbed by officials.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from a mock drill conducted by Chineses officials at an official checkpoint in Henan province to create awareness about cooperating with police during the Coronavirus epidemic.
On watching the longer version of the viral video, at the 1.52 minute timestamp, one can spot '反恐演 Exercises' written which when when translated in English reads, "Counter-Terrorism Exercises'" on the blue board in the background.
We ran a Google search using the viral caption and found a news article by Storyful, a social media intelligence agency that states the video is from a staged incident at an official checkpoint in Henan province in China which was posted to Weibo and TikTok by the Tongbai County's Municipal Public Security Bureau.
The mock-drill was held on February 21, 2020, which intends to show a possible scenario if a person is not cooperative at a checkpoint.
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The article further stated that at one point an official in the viral video says, "Please get out of the vehicle to cooperate with our examination," after which he is nabbed.
BOOM also found a Weibo post accompanying the video released by the Tongbai security bureau reads, "To win the epidemic defense, Tongyang police had armed exercises."
Journalists raised concern over the questionable methods shown in the video on how to deal with uncooperative Coronavirus patients. Anna Fifield, Beijing bureau chief for the Washington Post, quote tweeted the viral video, "Only in China: Medical SWAT teams with riot shields and dog-catcher nets practicing to catch a person with coronavirus symptoms."
BOOM found news reports that showed toll gates in several regions with a high number of reported cases including Wuhan had been converted into makeshift checkpoints to screen people and to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
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