Social Media Posts Claiming Army Built 1000-Bed Quarantine Facility Are False

A set of three old and unrelated photos is viral with a fake claim that an advance hospital with the capacity of 1,000 beds has been built by the Indian Army in Barmer, Rajasthan to tackle the Coronavirus outbreak in the country.

The photos show a medical facility, a hospital room, and a group of army doctors. The claim is fake as BOOM found that the photos are old and unrelated to the current pandemic. Moreover, the Indian Army had also called this piece of information as 'fake' from their official Twitter handle.

Also read: No, A US Soldier Didn't Wipe His Saliva On A Subway Train In Wuhan

The caption accompanying the photos states: "Indian army has constructed a perfect hospital in Barmer, Rajasthan, with the capacity of 1000 beds in only two days. It has an intensive care unit department with 100 ventilators and equipped with everything required to treat 1000 coronavirus patients."

(In Hindi: भारतीय सेना के द्वारा बाडमेर (राजस्थान) में केवल दो दिनों में खड़ा किया गया पूरे "एक हजार बिस्तरों" का परिपूर्ण अस्पताल..!! इसमें सौ वेंटिलेटर्स से सुसज्जित "गहन चिकित्सा विभाग" (आइ‌सीयू) भी हैं और एक साथ करोना-वायरस के एक हजार रोगियों के इलाज की पूरी व्यवस्था है.!)

The post is widely shared on Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter.

BOOM also received the set of photos on its helpline (7700906111) with the same caption from multiple users.

The photos are viral on Facebook too with the same claim. Click here for archived version.

A Facebook user named Gaurav Bisht took the claim further and wrote, "every 20 patients will have one doctor for them and the facility has a TV, sports and other entertainment facilities are being provided to the patients in isolation." 

"Army officials have assured to build four more such hospitals in two days as per necessity under the Indian army healthcare facility."

Viral on Twitter

Fact Check

The army has denied any such news about a quarantine advance hospital facility and wrote: "A Fake input is circulating on Social Media that #IndianArmy has established 1000 bed quarantine facility in Barmer. This is untrue."

Furthermore, we also found that the photos are captured at different locations at different times and not at all related to coronavirus pandemic.

Image 1

The photograph had been published by a website named Trend on September 11, 2019, as found by a reverse image search. The headline of the article along with the photo reads: "Russia to donate mobile hospital worth KGS 5.5 mln to Kyrgyz Emergency Ministry"

"The project carries out its activities aimed at the development of the regions, including the prevention of emergency situations. Since 2017, the project has provided 30 pilot villages with disaster risk profiles for the implementation of mitigation and "green" projects, implemented 4 projects to reduce the risks from mudflows and landslides, and installed a single cremator for the disposal of livestock with infectious diseases," the website reported. 

BOOM is not able to independently verify the exact origin of the photo, but the photograph has been used long before the outbreak and is not from India.

Image 2

We ran the photograph through a reverse image search and found that it was featured on a blog that helps the Indian army aspirants. After looking deeper, we found a Tweet on the official Twitter handle of the Principal Spokesperson, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. 

The tweet reads: "#NepalEarthquake Casualty Triage Centre set up by Army Medical Corps at Kathmandu Air Base to aid the rescued people"

It is, therefore, indeed the Indian army but the photo is from April 28, 2015.

Also read: Mumbai Police Rubbishes Viral Message On Timings Of Essential Items Sold

Image 3

BOOM found that the photo is available online since November 16, 2008, and was first published on the official website of March Air Reserve Base, an air base in California.

The article accompanying the photo reads: "MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. -- For the first time since the mid-90s, there was a fully functional hospital at March ARB. The 200-bed mobile field hospital (MFH), one of three owned by the California Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA), began setup Sunday and became the nerve center for a week long training event sponsored by the Office of Homeland Security. March is the Regional Training Site for this year's EMSA Field Training Event." 

It was one of the three such facilities.

To track live updates on the Coronavirus outbreak follow BOOM liveblog here.