The video below claiming that it is of a locust invasion in Jaipur, India, has been shared on Twitter; eventually going viral on the platform.
Locust Attack in Jaipur 🤮
#2020 isn't it too much already ?
— Srinivas M.D(AIIMS) 📢 (@srinivasaiims) May 25, 2020
Background
India currently has the highest number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Asia, at 199,757 cases, 5,612 deaths and 95,875 recoveries (keep tabs on updated numbers using our COVID-19 tracker). But amidst the ongoing pandemic, the country has been experiencing other major challenges especially in the month of May.
A severe heatwave was reported in Delhi on May 26, becoming the hottest day recorded in 18 years. New Delhi, Palam area, recorded 47.6-degrees Celsius, six notches above the normal. The last time such a high was recorded was on May 19, 2002.
On May 20, Cyclone Ampham, the first super cyclone to hit the Bay of Bengal since 1999, wreaked havoc in India and Bangladesh, killing at least 90 people and causing more than $13.2 billion in damages.
According to The Economic Times, by May, 100 million people had lost their jobs and in the same month, the worst locust invasion in almost 30 years was reported in India. This is preceded by an invasion that hit East Africa in January this year.
Verification
A YouTube search reveals that the video was shared by The Times of India on May 26, 2020. It is captioned:
More swarms of locusts attack several residential localities of Jaipur
This article by the New York Times posted on May 27, 2020, also uses the video in question in the article titled:
‘Overtaken by Aliens’: India Faces Another Plague as Locusts Swarm
The video is hyperlinked in the 8th paragraph of the article as copied below:
On Monday, Jaipur, a sprawling city of 4 million and the biggest in the state of Rajasthan, was besieged. A blizzard of bugs flew over concrete buildings and the wealthier neighbourhoods, swooping in on trees and plants, crossing graveyards and jewellery markets, attracted to the manicured golf course in the heart of the city.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, the desert locust swarms arrived in Rajasthan from Iran and Pakistan and continued to move east in the eastern portion of the state and to the central states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. As of 26 May, at least one swarm had reached to the northeast of Bhopal. Much of these movements have been associated with strong westerly winds from Cyclone Amphan.
Efforts are currently underway to control the swarms, which have destroyed acres of crops, with hard hit areas using drones, tractors and fire engines to disperse the insects.
Verdict
The video in circulation is showing a locust invasion is from India, making the claim TRUE.
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