A 'quarantine camp' was not destroyed near Ottawa

A 'quarantine camp' was not destroyed near Ottawa

(Reuters) - A video that appears to show the construction of a “temporary quarantine facility” in the Henan Province in China has been shared along the false claim that it depicts a “quarantine camp” near Ottawa recently destroyed by Canadians.

The 15-second-long vertical video shows two clusters of white cube-shaped rooms in line between an empty road with garbage on the ground.

“Quarantine gulags: Dismantled by Canadians just outside of Ottawa,” reads part of a tweet with the miscaptioned footage ( here ). Other iterations can be seen on Twitter ( here ), Facebook ( here ), and TikTok.

A now deleted iteration of the miscaptioned clip on Twitter had been viewed at least 52,200 times as of Jan. 31. An early archived version of the content can be found ( here ).

Reuters could not source the original video but the scene resembles the construction of a “quarantine facility” in Anyang City, Henan Province, China. Chinese state media CGTN published a video on Jan. 20, 2022 that appears to show the same location ( here ) (see grey posts and marks on the pavement).

Around timestamp 00:10 of the clip shared on social media, two people wearing a neon yellow vest are seen inside one of the rooms. People wearing similar vests, described as construction workers can be seen in the CGTN report too (for example, around timestamp 00:25).

According to the outlet, construction began on Jan. 16, 2022 and was expected to be finalized in five days, due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant; upon completion the facility would have “over 3,000 rooms would be ready to house close contacts of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the city,” CGTN reported.

According to Canada’s Quarantine Act, travelers arriving to the country with COVID-19 symptoms, who do not have a “suitable place to quarantine” as well as unvaccinated travelers “may be referred to a designated quarantine facility, upon the direction of a quarantine officer” ( here ). These facilities are hotels approved by the government ( here ), ( here ).

A spokesperson from Ottawa Public Health told Reuters they were not “aware of such an incident occurring” and described the social media posts as “misinformation”. Voluntary isolation centers are hosted in hotels, the spokesperson added.

VERDICT

False. The footage appears to show a quarantine facility under construction in China. A spokesperson from Ottawa Public Health told Reuters the posts are “misinformation” and that isolation centers for incoming travelers are in hotels.