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France 24
France 24
World

No, French hospitals are not using mannequins as fake Covid-19 patients

Covid-19 BFMTV BFM Quebec France
Images purporting to show a dummy being placed in intensive care, with a screenshot from French broadcaster BFMTV, are being shared as proof that France is inventing Covid hospitalisation rates. The hoax has been circulating again since early January, in English and other languages. © Observers

Since early January, some people online have been sharing a photo of a dummy in a hospital bed, claiming it was used in a TV report by French broadcaster BFM in order to trick people about the severity of the latest wave of Covid in France. They say that hospitals aren't really full, and that they're packing beds with mannequins to make the situation seem worse. But in reality, these images come from a hospital simulation in Quebec, and they were never aired on BFMTV.

“France: hospitals are so saturated with the omicron variant that there is not even time to put the arms to the mannequins for the media...” This was the caption above an image shared on an anti-vaccine Facebook page on January 6.

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