{"id":639,"date":"2020-03-23T06:44:26","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T06:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/?p=639"},"modified":"2022-02-21T10:07:28","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T10:07:28","slug":"fact-check-jon-snow-had-not-contracted-covid-19-after-the-late-february-assignment-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/fact-check-jon-snow-had-not-contracted-covid-19-after-the-late-february-assignment-in-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Snow has not contracted COVID-19 after returning from Iran in February"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jonathan George Snow popularly known as Jon Snow is a British journalist and a famous TV anchor for Channel 4 News. He has done stints at various conflict-torn zones around the world. His documentary revisiting the battlefields of Northern Sri Lanka, and alleged war crimes by Sri Lankan military came under much scrutiny among Sri Lankans. Jon Snow had visited Iran for election coverage in February and with number of Iranian officials testing positive for coronavirus there were fears that whoever came in contact with them could have also contracted the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, we noticed number of social media posts reappearing with the claim that Jon Snow had contracted COVID19 virus. Facebook user Shiran Kulaseker posted the below image with the text \u201c\u0dc1\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dd3\u0dbd\u0d82\u0d9a\u0dcf\u0dbb\u0dab\u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dbb\u0dd4\u0dc0\u0db1\u0dca\u0da7\u0da0\u0ddd\u0daf\u0db1\u0dcf\u0d9a\u0dc5\u0da0\u0dd0\u0db1\u0dbd\u0dca\u0dc6\u0ddd\u0da2\u0ddd\u0db1\u0dca\u0dc3\u0dca\u0db1\u0ddc\u0da7\u0d9a\u0ddc\u0dbb\u0ddd\u0db1\u0dcf\u0dc0\u0dd0\u0dc5\u0db3\u0dd9\u0dba\u0dd2\u201d <\/strong>which translated to English as \u201cChannel 4\u2019s Jon Snow who accused Sri Lankan\u2019s war hero\u2019s, is contracted with Coronavirus\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FB Link<\/a><\/td>Archived<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

We noticed this message had first appeared on 27th<\/sup> February by a Facebook user of Gayal Kithsiri Ranasinghe carrying a post with the caption \u201c\u0dc3\u0dca\u0dad\u0dd4\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dd2 \u0d9a\u0ddc\u0dbb\u0ddd\u0db1\u0dcf.\u201d which meant \u201cThank you Corona\u201d, with a picture of Jon Snow along with superimposed text which claimed that \u201c<\/strong>Channel4\u2019s Jon Snow who accused Sri Lankan forces of war crimes <\/strong>is infected with Coronavirus\u201d. Below is a screen grab of the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Link<\/a><\/td>Archived Link<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Below is another version of a similar claim that mentioned 72-year-old Jon Snow had been diagnosed with Coronavirus after an assignment in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Link<\/a><\/td>Archived Link<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

If a person of caliber of Jon Snow was diagnosed with Corvid-19 infection, it would not have slipped through the attention of world media. However, we could not find any news report confirming this off lately. Hence we decided to carry out fact check on this claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact Check  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We carried out a google search<\/a> for any news related to Jon Snow and Coronavirus and came across number of news reports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All reports in late February had indicated how Jon Snow had moved into self-isolation after his last assignment in Iran, covering the recently concluded elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guardian had reported<\/a> that two British journalists, Radio 4\u2019s Nick Robinson<\/a> and the Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow, had decided to self-isolate, the former after a holiday in Vietnam and Cambodia and the later after an assignment from Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since the self-isolation of Jon Snow had been initiated in late February we checked his official Twitter account for his latest updates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 4th<\/sup> of March Jon Snow had published a video from his self-isolation revealing that he was feeling fine and finishing up on his book and was hoping to join Channe4 News in a weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Update from self-isolation: pic.twitter.com\/z3gB4T3oJy<\/a><\/p>— Jon Snow (@jonsnowC4) March 4, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>