FACT CHECK: Does the artwork depict all medical workers died of Covid-19?

Due to covid 19 pandemic, health care workers have been facing a crisis situation worldwide. Many got infected with covid 19 while some lost their lives due to the pandemic. In main stream media as well as social media, people are talking about the dedication of health care workers during this difficult time. Meanwhile some misleading social media posts have been spreading regarding the issue and this is an investigation related with such social media claim.

Social Media Notes

A Facebook user added a photo to the social media with below mentioned note inside the photo. The post claimed the portrait was made from the photos of all health care workers who passed away due to covid 19 infection.

The post had been commented by many social media users along with number of shares and reactions.

“This portrait is made with the pictures of all the doctors and nurses who passed away in this pandemic. Enlarge it and you will see. Pass it on as a tribute.”

Facebook | Archived

We noticed that similar notes being spread via Facebook space like below.

Due to the curious nature of this post, we decided to do an investigation over this.

Fact Check

After running Google Reverse Image Search and Keyword Search, we were able to find that artwork was created as an initiation of gratitude regarding the doctors, nurses and other health care workers who lost their lives in the battle of covid 19 in Mexico.

The initiation to create this image was taken by a famous media institution of Mexico, named as “Milenio”, (Millenium).

Web| Archived

At the end of 2020 June, 198 health workers passed away due to Covid 19 pandemic in Mexico. This artwork was created to respect them.

Facebook | Archived

We also checked about how many health care workers in the world passed away during this pandemic season as a result of covid infection. According to the WHO and UN data, between 80,000 and 180,000 health care workers may have died due to covid 19 pandemic from January 2020 to May 2021, time period. The full article can be read here.

UN News | Archived

Sinhala article of fact crescendo over this issue can be read from here.

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Conclusion

Fact Crescendo Sri Lanka found out the photo with a claim mentioned above is misleading. Actually, the portrait only depicts the 198 health care workers who died of Covid-19 in Mexico as of June 2020. World Health Organization (WHO) estimated between 80,000 and 180,000 of the world’s health care workers may have died of Covid-19 between January 2020 and May 2021.