Video of UK Patient Shared as Pak Doctor’s Appeal Before Death

The man in the video is not Pakistani Dr Usman Riaz but a UK resident named Mubashir Ahmed.

CLAIM

A 26-year-old Pakistani doctor, Usman Riaz, died on 23 March after contracting COVID-19, becoming the country’s first medic to die because of the virus. Soon after his death, a viral video surfaced on various social media platforms claiming that it shows the doctor’s final appeal to people before his death.

In the viral clip, the man can be heard saying, “I am feeling much better today, so I thought of speaking to all of us. I request you all to take this virus seriously. This isn’t a joke. Today, I feel a thousand times better.”

He goes on to appeal to people to stand safe and create awareness. The video is also viral on Twitter with the same claim.

TRUE OR FALSE?

The Quint can confirm that while the video has not been altered in any form, the claim with which it is being circulated is false.

The man in the video is not Pakistani Dr Riaz but a UK resident named Mubashir Ahmed, who was admitted to a hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.

WHAT WE FOUND

A Google keyword search using “Dr Usman Riaz” directed us to several news reports about the Pakistani doctor.

A report by The Express Tribune carried Dr Riaz’s photo, where he looked very different from the person in the video.

Subsequently, we checked on TweetDeck, a Twitter application, using “Dr Usman Riaz” as the keywords which generated multiple results. One of the users in response to the viral video had mentioned that the person in the video is not Dr Riaz but somebody called Mubashir Ahmed.

We followed the leads and searched for Mubashir Ahmed on Facebook where we came across this same video, which was uploaded on Sunday, 22 March.

There is currently no specific treatment for coronavirus. Antibiotics do not help, as they do not work against...

Posted by Mubashir Ahmad on Sunday, March 22, 2020

In a more recent video, Mubashir also urged people not to fall prey to the viral video being circulated with a misleading claim.

This is to clarify the confusion among people who are thinking I’m Dr Usama Riaz who has unfortunately passed away. My...

Posted by Mubashir Ahmad on Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Hence, a video of a UK based person is being circulated to falsely imply that it shows Dr Riaz’s last message before his death.

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