Edited clip shared as foreign minister Jaishankar violating Covid norms during G7

A fake report of external affairs minister S Jaishankar refusing to quarantine during the G7 summit despite two of his team members testing positive for Covid-19, has gone viral on social media.

A screengrab of the video which has gone viral on social media.

Dheeshma Puzhakkal, India Today, New Delhi, May 10, 2021: Two members of an Indian delegation led by external affairs minister S Jaishankar to the G7 foreign ministers meeting in London had tested positive for Covid-19 in the first week of May. The summit was the “first in-person” meeting of the Ministers of G7 and partner countries after the pandemic began.

Now, a clipping from a news report is viral on social media claiming that the minister refused to quarantine during the summit despite two of his team members testing positive for Covid-19. The 2-minute-20-second video also says Jaishankar violated Covid protocols by meeting United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Home Secretary Preeti Patel during the summit.

The caption of one such video reads, “Foreign media reports that Indians behave carelessly at G7. Indian team insulted and advised not to take part in next months meeting......”

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. The video in circulation is doctored and a different narration was added to a report by “Sky News”. Jaishankar met Blinken and Patel before his team members tested positive for Covid. After the test results were out, he participated in the summit virtually.

The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here.

AFWA probe

Upon closely observing the video in circulation, we can see the logo of British news channel “Sky News” on the top left corner. The video begins by saying two officials from the Indian delegation headed by Jaishankar tested positive for coronavirus and had to stay in isolation in their hotel rooms.

However, after a minute into the video, we notice a change in presentation style and narration. It is in this part of the video that the narrator says Jaishankar flouted quarantine norms.

We went through the “Sky News” reports on the recent G7 meeting on their YouTube channel and found the first minute of the video in question carried by a report published on May 6.

However, in this video, we were unable to find the segment that claims the external affairs minister violated quarantine norms. Also, in this report, UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab is heard saying that immediately after two Indian delegates were tested positive for coronavirus, the entire team went into self-isolation.

Also, according to multiple news reports on the G7 summit, Jaishankar met Blinken and Patel on May 3 night and May 4 morning. The reports, also say that from May 5, Jaishankar and three of his teammates went into quarantine after two other members of the delegation tested Covid-positive. Here on, the minister joined the summit virtually.

On May 5, Jaishankar had tweeted that he was informed of his exposure to Covid-19 on May 4 evening, and hence, he will be participating in the G7 meeting virtually.

Was made aware yesterday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive cases. As a measure of abundant caution and also out of consideration for others, I decided to conduct my engagements in the virtual mode. That will be the case with the G7 Meeting today as well.

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) May 5, 2021

However, a still in the viral video showing Jaishankar attending the summit without a mask is real and was tweeted, by the minister himself. But it is clear that the video in question is doctored and the claim about Jaishankar violating isolation norms during the G7 summit is misleading.

INDIA TODAY FACT CHECK

Claim

External affairs minister S Jaishankar refused to quarantine despite two of his team members testing Covid-positive during the G7 summit in London. He also violated Covid protocols by meeting US Secretary of State and British Home Secretary during the summit.

Conclusion

The “Sky News” report in circulation is doctored. Jaishankar attended the G7 meeting virtually after two of his team members tested positive for Covid-19. He met the US Secretary of State and British Home Secretary before the test results.

JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE

The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.

• 1 Crow: Half True
• 2 Crows: Mostly lies
• 3 Crows: Absolutely false

(Courtesy & source: - https://www.indiatoday.in/fact-check/story/fact-check-edited-clip-shared-as-foreign-minister-jaishankar-violating-covid-norms-during-g7-1800887-2021-05-10)