Chinese people flee to Vietnam due to COVID-19.
The tweet’s caption reads: “The mass escape from China has begun through unpatrolled borders., “Thousands of people have escaped to Vietnam from the ‘Guangxi’ border because of #coronavirus”., Below is a screenshot of the tweet:, Several voices speaking Vietnamese are heard in the footage. The intelligible phrases translate to English as: “So many people; Too many crossed to us; Must be more than the 1,700 people coming the other day; They are smart this time; There are many more over there; That lady is running and shooting video.", The footage was also shared alongside references to escaping the coronavirus on Twitter here, on Facebook here and here and on YouTube here., The coronavirus has killed at least 2,118 people and infected 74,000 in China, AFP reported., The claim that the footage shows\xa0people in China fleeing to Vietnam to avoid the virus is false., A reverse image search on Google found the same video published on YouTube here on November 28, 2019, roughly a month before the coronavirus broke out., Below are three screenshot comparisons from the misleading footage (L) and the 2019 YouTube video (R):, "The video shows the\xa0Friendship\xa0Border Station, which connects\xa0Chinas Guangxi province to northern Vietnam. The crossing can be seen on Google Maps here.", Below is a\xa0Google Maps street view\xa0image of the crossing\xa0on the Vietnam side of the border:, , The border gate has also been captured and reported by Vietnamese newspaper\xa0Tiền Phong here., A screenshot comparison of image from the misleading video (L) and the news photo\xa0(R) can be seen as below:, "Moreover, Vietnam has ceased issuing entry visas to people who have been to China in the past 14 days. The policy has been in place since January 31, 2020, according to Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs.", The Chinese Embassy in Hanoi\xa0also announced that Vietnam was closing it border to Chinese citizens and anyone travelling from China to Vietnam. "It is recommended that Chinese citizens adjust their schedules in a timely manner," the Embassy said in a\xa0statement\xa0on February 4, 2020., , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
This video circulated online weeks before the novel coronavirus was first reported | AFP Fact Check