Bat Infestation Video From Florida Falsely Shared As Coronavirus Source Found

A three minute video from Florida, USA of a bat infestation under a tiled roof is viral falsely claiming that the source of the novel Coronavirus in Hubei, China has been found.

The video dates back to July 2011 and shows workers with gloved hands removing the tiling of an old roof to reveal hundreds of bats flying from under every tile panel.

As the contractors continue to move from panel to panel to reveal a heavy bat infestation, cinematic music accompanies the visuals, masking any dialogue or sounds from the environment.

The video is being posted across social media platforms with the caption: "The corona virus source is found. It turns out that many roofs in Hubei China are covered with chrysanthemum bats, a type of bat."

We also received the video on the BOOM helpline number (+91 7700906111)

The video is being posted on Facebook and Twitter with the same caption.

Click here to view, and here for an archive. 

 Below is a screenshot of the posts on Facebook.

Click here to view, and here for an archive.

 

Fact Check

BOOM found that the video is over eight years old and was uploaded by Miami based roofing contractor Istueta Roofing. The workers can be heard speaking in Spanish in the original video, without the cinematic background music that has been added in the viral video.

The company writes about the video: "Our crew is in for a surprise when they begin the removal process of our clients' old roof and hundreds of bats come flying out from underneath the tiles. This was unexpected! (Bat Removal is not a service that we provide.) A special thanks to our Production Manager, Danny Argote, for getting this on camera."

The video is originally from Florida, USA and is not from any Chinese provinces.

View the original video on the roofing company's YouTube channel below:

The 2019-nCoV (2019 novel Coronavirus) has so far claimed 362 lives. The virus is suspected to have originated from the Hunan Seafood market in Wuhan city in China's Hubei district. The city, which has around 11 million residents, has been put under lockdown. The disease outbreak comes during the Lunar New Year Festival when China sees many residents flying in and out of the country.

ALSO READ: WHO Declares Coronavirus As Global Public Health Emergency

According to a study published by the Lancet, the epidemiological and genomic characterisation of the virus is similar to a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) like virus. The study states that although bats might be the original host of this virus, an animal sold at the seafood market in Wuhan might represent an intermediate host facilitating the emergence of the virus in humans.

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The outbreak of the virus has also sparked a slew of misinformation on social media.

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BOOM has debunked several such false messages about the Coronavirus. View our thread on the same, below.