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Health & medicine fact checks
Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.
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Search by text or image13,676 published reviews in this topic
Foto de varios miembros del Gobierno sin mantener la distancia social durante la crisis del coronavirus
Publisher’s rating: Engañoso
The claim concerned footage from a television report titled “Desescalada por fases,” broadcast on May 8, 2020. People sharing it on social media alleged that the Government was violating distancing rules; the review identifies Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias among those shown. The fact-check investigated whether the scene represented conduct during the then-current restrictions, rather than merely whether people appeared close together in the footage. The review says Antena 3’s Espejo Público used archival images. It dates the scene to January 30, when the Government signed an agreement on raising the minimum wage with unions and employers. Because the footage preceded the current distancing situation, its appearance during the state of alarm did not establish that the people shown were breaking the rules then in force. The review’s conclusion is that the post combined genuine footage with a misleading omission: viewers were not told it was archival. The supplied review describes the footage’s prior event and broadcast context, but does not specify how the broadcaster’s archive was checked or cite a separate documentary record. Its stated finding rests on identifying the images as footage from the January 30 agreement, not on disputing that the people were close together in the scene.
A video shows that "Bill Gates admits the vaccine will no doubt kill 700,000 people"
Publisher’s rating: This is false and misrepresents Mr Gates' words. He does not "admit" 700,000 will die from a vaccine.
European air travel guidelines show there is no need to quarantine visitors from overseas
Publisher’s rating: Misleading
പാവങ്ങൾക്ക് സൗജന്യമായി മരുന്നു നൽകുന്ന ഡോക്ടർ സുനിത
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
Anthony Fauci said a Covid-19 vaccine must be delivered to people without 'proper studies'
Publisher’s rating: False
The coronavirus pandemic is a cover for a plan to implant trackable microchips and that the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is behind it.
Publisher’s rating: We found no evidence to support this claim
தணிகாசலம் பரிந்துரைத்த சித்த மருந்தை தமிழக அரசு அங்கீகரித்ததா?
Publisher’s rating: False
The review investigates a Facebook post claiming that the Siddha practitioner Thanikasalam had achieved a breakthrough and received Tamil Nadu government approval for his medicine. It identifies a post on the 24Xttt Facebook page dated 03.05.2020 and says the post also shared a JaffnaCNN news link. The review describes Thanikasalam as publicly claiming he had a remedy for COVID-19 and saying he was willing to have it tested in Tamil Nadu. It concludes that the state had not approved the medicine he recommended. As described in the review, the checking involved searching into the claim and examining the government’s use of Siddha medicines. The article distinguishes the remedies the state was already using—Kabasura Kudineer and Nilavembu decoction—from Thanikasalam’s proposed medicine: it says the existing remedies were distributed to the public on recommendations from the Government Siddha Medical College Hospital in Arumbakkam, Chennai. That distinction addresses a possible source of confusion: the state’s use of some Siddha remedies did not amount to approval of Thanikasalam’s medicine. The review also reports that Thanikasalam was arrested by police on 06.05.2020 for spreading rumours. Its conclusion is specifically about whether the Tamil Nadu government approved a Siddha medicine he recommended; the excerpt does not provide clinical trial results or an independent assessment of the medicine’s effectiveness.
India has the second fastest doubling rate among the countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases
Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING
The claim came from an infographic shared by former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan on 26 May 2020. It compared countries’ doubling rates as of that date and showed India’s rate as 14 days, behind only Brazil’s 13 days. The review’s central objection was that this comparison lined up countries with very different numbers of cases: India had about 1.45 lakh, while the United States had about 16.62 lakh, and Brazil and Russia each had more than 3.5 lakh. It argued that comparing rates at the same date was not a fair measure of how quickly countries reached a comparable case total. (S1) To make a more comparable comparison, the review used Our World in Data figures to examine how long countries took to double and reach about 1.5 lakh cases. India took around 13 days, which placed it fifth-fastest among the 11 countries with the highest case totals. The United States took four days, Russia nine, Brazil ten, and Spain about 11. The review also examined the 1-lakh threshold: seven countries took fewer days than India to double to that level. These results show that India was not second-fastest under the review’s comparable-threshold analysis. (S1) The review further noted that countries were at different stages of their outbreaks. Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and France had reported lower daily case numbers than during their April peaks for much of May, while the United States, Brazil, Russia, and India were still reporting higher daily numbers than earlier. Thus the infographic’s date-based ranking obscured both the differences in case totals and the countries’ differing outbreak trajectories. (S1)
Video shows the terrible situation in a hospital in Delhi
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerned a social-media video said to show terrible conditions inside a Delhi hospital, with Delhi’s chief minister blamed for them. FACTLY’s review says the footage was instead from KEM Hospital in Mumbai, so it did not depict the Delhi hospital described in the post. The review describes several checks linking the footage to KEM. In the video, a man says “it is KEM hospital”; later, a woman tells the person filming to leave and upload the video on Facebook while tagging KEM Hospital. The review also reports that a commenter identified KEM as the location and that Maharashtra MLA and BJP leader Ram Kadan posted the same video on 27 May 2020, describing it as footage from Mumbai’s KEM Hospital. FACTLY further notes that media reports also associated the video with KEM and that the Aam Aadmi Party tweeted that it was not from Delhi. It distinguishes the video from separate reports about horrifying visuals from a Delhi mortuary: those reports do not establish that the circulated video was filmed there. The review’s conclusion rests on the video’s own spoken references to KEM and the reported matching post and corroborating accounts.
Bill Gates briefed the CIA in 2005 about a vaccine to immunise religious fanatics
Publisher’s rating: False
The enhanced community quarantine or ECQ in various parts of the Philippines has been extended until June 15, 2020.
Publisher’s rating: False
Imagen con las cifras de test de anticuerpos para la COVID-19 entregados por el Gobierno central a Galicia, Andalucía, Murcia y Madrid
Publisher’s rating: Engañoso
Newtral investigated an image circulating through WhatsApp that listed antibody tests delivered by the central government to Galicia, Andalucía, Murcia and Madrid, alongside figures for how many had supposedly been used. The image also claimed that the opposition’s representative could not explain where unused tests were. Newtral reports that the figures were supplied by PSOE deputy Ana María Prieto during Health Minister Salvador Illa’s appearance in Congress on 30 April—not in the Senate, as the message said. It found that the figures themselves were correct, but that comparing them as the image did was misleading because the totals came from different dates. The review traced the delivery totals to Health Ministry press releases: they added rapid-test deliveries made on 5, 11 and 24 April, excluding PCR tests. For Madrid, the listed deliveries were 206,400, 195,600 and 177,600, totaling 579,600. But the “used” figures in the image came from a ministry statement reporting regional information only through 23 April. That was before the ministry began distributing another batch of rapid tests on 24 April, so the comparison paired a delivery total that included the new batch with usage information that preceded it. To compare usage with deliveries on a more consistent timeline, Newtral used the total received by 11 April—the last time the central government had supplied rapid-test batches to all regions—and compared it with tests performed through 23 April. On that basis, Andalucía had performed nearly 34% of tests received; Galicia, 15.57%; Madrid, 8.64%; and Murcia, 5.33%. The review’s explanation is therefore not that the image’s figures were fabricated, but that combining delivery and usage figures from mismatched dates could give a distorted impression.
Plusieurs publications circulent sur les réseaux sociaux, attribuant au Premier ministre italien Giuseppe Conte les mots suivants: « Nous avons perdu le contrôle, nous avons tué l’épidémie physiquement et moralement. On ne peux (sic!) pas comprendre ce que nous pouvons faire de plus, toutes les solutions sont épuisées sur terre. Notre seul espoir reste dans le ciel, Dieu sauve ton peuple. » (http://dpaq.de/EqudH) Ce message a été largement diffusé en différentes versions, en langue française, mais aussi en anglais et espagnol.
Publisher’s rating: Une telle déclaration par le Premier ministre italien Giuseppe Conte n'existe pas sur le site du gouvernment italien.
The posts attributed a dramatic message about losing control of the epidemic, exhausting every solution and placing hope in God to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. The review reports that DPA found no official trace of him making that statement. It says the agency checked the Italian government website for such a declaration; the excerpt does not describe a broader search of every possible record or establish who first composed the viral text. The review contrasts the allegation with a specific documented address: on 21 March 2020, Conte concluded a message to the nation with words about sacrifice, courage and hope for Italy’s future. That closing passage differs from the viral quotation. The review also cautions against treating the accompanying image as proof: it says the Conte photo used in the post appears to come from his resignation announcement at the Senate in August 2019, and that no words spoken then could be connected to the viral statement. It notes that similar posts circulated with an image of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, but does not thereby establish that Bolsonaro said the quoted words.
https://projetocomprova.com.br/publica%C3%A7%C3%B5es/boato-usa-frase-de-doria-para-levantar-duvidas-sobre-a-extensao-da-pandemia/
Publisher’s rating: Enganoso: Tuíte usa o a lista de membros da ONU, 193, para sugerir que o governador de São Paulo exagera os números de países afetados pela pandemia. Dória afirmou que 213 países enfrentam a pandemia de covid-19 em entrevista à Band TV. São, na realidade, 214 países e territórios afetados, segundo a OMS
Einem angeblichen Corona-Impfstoff soll das Schwangerschaftshormon Beta-hCG beigemischt sein, um Frauen unfruchtbar zu machen. Diese Behauptung taucht derzeit im Netz immer wieder auf
Publisher’s rating: Es gibt noch keinen Impfstoff zum Schutz vor Covid-19. Für die Beimischung von Beta-hCG (humanes Choriongonadotropin) gibt es keinerlei Anhaltspunkte.
The claim concerned an alleged Covid-19 vaccine that would contain Beta-hCG, a pregnancy hormone, to make women infertile. The review placed the allegation in the context of claims circulating online and assessed both whether such a Covid-19 vaccine existed at the time and whether there was evidence that Beta-hCG was used in vaccines. It reported that, as of 27 May 2020, there was no Covid-19 vaccination available, although vaccine development was under way: “Gegen Covid-19, die durch das Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 verursachte Krankheit, gibt es noch keine Impfung” and “Demnach befinden sich aktuell zehn Stoffe in der klinischen Testphase (Stand: 27. Mai).” For the alleged ingredient, the review reported that Germany’s Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), the authority responsible for vaccine authorisation, told dpa it knew of no vaccines against infectious diseases, past or present, that contained Beta-hCG. The article also described PEI laboratory testing of suspicious samples from Africa, including batches alleged to have been spiked with hCG. It said the tests found no indication of hCG in those samples: “In diesen Proben konnten keine Hinweise auf die Anwesenheit von hCG gefunden werden, so das PEI.” The review also addressed a related allegation about tetanus vaccines, which was sometimes cited in support of the Covid-19 claim. It reported the WHO’s denial that hCG was present in tetanus-toxoid vaccines and noted that PEI’s testing of the referenced samples likewise found no hCG. These findings concern the evidence described in the article; they do not establish that a Covid-19 vaccine was available or tested, which the review said was not the case at that time.
Vídeo que circula pelas redes sociais diz que cloroquina está sendo liberada para tratamento contra a Covid
Publisher’s rating: Enganoso: Em vídeo compartilhado nas redes sociais, um homem sem formação na área de saúde exagera a eficácia da cloroquina e minimiza seus efeitos colaterais e diz que as notícias sobre esses efeitos fazem parte de uma luta contra o presidente da República
Die Anzahl der am Coronavirus Verstorbenen ist mit der Zahl der jährlichen Influenza-Toten zu vergleichen. Es gibt vergleichsweise wenige Corona-Tote und die gesetzten Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung sind daher übertrieben.
Publisher’s rating: Ein Vergleich ist aufgrund einer geringen Aussagekraft umstritten. Influenza-Todesfälle beruhen auf Schätzwerten, Corona-Todesfälle nicht. Doch auch die Erhebung der Corona-Todesfälle ist eher ungenau. Zudem macht – wenn überhaupt – ein Vergleich erst mit zeitlichem Abstand Sinn. Man kann außerdem nicht wissen, wie hoch die Zahl der Corona-Toten ohne gesetzte Maßnahmen wäre.