Fact Check: Will helicopters be used to spray disinfectants to eradicate Coronavirus?

Claim: Helicopters will be used to spray disinfectants to eradicate coronavirus

Rating: False

What is the rumour about?

• Helicopters would be used to disinfectant various locations at night. So no person should be on the streets during this time.
• It is also being said that 5 helicopters would be used to spray the disinfectants. Although the location is not mentioned in the viral social media post. 

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Who started the rumour?

• Social media users
• On April 1, the message about helicopters being used to curb the coronavirus pandemic spread on a social media platform called WeChat. 
• The rumour was spread all over the web; however, it did not mention which areas the helicopters are deputed to disinfect. So, people from Richmond in America, Calgary in Canada, the UK, Mexico, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Switzerland, and various other places were reported to have received the maximum number of such messages. 

Image courtesy: Facebook

Image courtesy: Twitter

Image courtesy: Facebook

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Google Trends 

After an analysis of the Google Trends with respect to the helicopters used to spray disinfectants rumour, one can see that people have been hugely interested to know whether helicopters are being deputed to disinfect areas. The maximum number of searches have been done on March 29, 2020. 

Image courtesy: Google Trends 

The maximum searches regarding the rumour have been done in countries like Ireland, UK, Philippines, Canada, and then India. The data are shown in the percentile form. 

Image courtesy: Google Trends 

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Republic World did a fact check on the "helicopters used to spray disinfectants" rumour

• Republic World did a fact check on the "helicopters used to spray disinfectants" rumour and it is a completely false statement.
• The officials from various parts of the country have come forward and refuted all such claims in various countries. This news has been spreading throughout the web ever since the Coronavirus pandemic started. 
• New York officials refuted the claims with regards to Brooklyn being sprayed with disinfectants. 
• Even the Sri Lankan Government's Information Department refuted such claims via a public statement published on social media handles on March 24, 2020.

Image courtesy: Original Sinhala media release

• The Department of Health of the Philippines urged people to verify the news from official social media handles of government authorities before spreading such messages.
• In the UAE, the NCEMA recently refuted such claims two weeks ago.

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