Fact Check: Did an Italian TV broadcast predict the COVID-19 outbreak in 2015?

TGR is the Italian state-owned broadcast service which features a number of shows in order to entertain the Italian audience. TGR broadcasts short-formed video news on regional news channel programmes in Italy. One of the most known shows from the bunch is TGR Leonardo which reportedly enjoys a great viewership. Now, one of the videos from TGR Leonardo from November 16, 2020, has gone viral on social media.

Claim - 

Many people on the internet are claiming that the video is a proof that ongoing Coronavirus pandemic is a result of testing done by Chinese scientists. 

Rating - 

The video does not speak about the current COVID-19 pandemic and the claim is thus FALSE.

The video claims that China created viruses which can affect the human body from a protein taken from bats and mice. The host could be seen repeatedly citing the word 'Coronavirus' which reportedly made the video viral on social media as conspiracy theory enthusiasts were quick to start linking the video from 2015 to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But is the TGR Leonardo video from November 16, 2015, actually claiming that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is an outcome of Chinese scientists experimenting with a cultivated virus? 

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TGR Leonardo video from 2015 -

Fact Check - TGR Leonarod 2015 video does not refer to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic

Google Trend analysis of TGR Leonardo -

Netizens have shown a sudden interest in the TGR Leonardo coronavirus video. The search volumes for the same showed a significant upward as the video started going viral on social media. Check it out below - 

Image courtesy - Google Trends

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The video claimed that the Chinese scientists have created a supervirus which attacks the respiratory tracks of human beings. The TGR Leonardo Coronavirus video also claims that an experiment was carried out in collaboration between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of North Carolina. Now, virologist of the University of Pavia, Fausto Baldanti, has come forward and denied the claims made by the  TGR Leonardo coronavirus video. 

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Virologist Fausto Baldanti has come forward and shared it with a leading news daily in Italy that a natural virus and a cultivated virus are distinguishable. The virologist revealed furthermore that though the 2015 experiment was indeed carried out, it was not of the same genome as the of the current COVID-19 strain. The experiment was carried out in order to understand if a virus can mutate naturally in future and cause a pandemic like the recent COVID-19 outbreak, as per virologist Fausto Baldanti. Thus, the TGR Leonardo coronavirus did not refer to or predict the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. 

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