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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,676 published reviews in this topic

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

網傳「以色列衛生部長稱新冠肺炎是上天對同性戀的懲罰，隨後被確診感染」、「以色列衛生部長稱只有同性戀才得武肺 自己被確診」？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim combines two events: that Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman blamed COVID-19 on homosexuality, and that he was later diagnosed with the disease. The review reports that Litzman did contract COVID-19 and later recovered, but says he did not make the quoted remark. Instead, the statement was attributed to Meir Mazuz, a different figure: a conservative Jewish religious leader and rabbi. This distinction is central to the claim’s error: the infection is associated with the minister, while the remark is associated with Mazuz. [S1: “以色列衛生部長黎茲曼（Yaakov Litzman）確診感染COVID-19，現已康復。不過，他未曾說過網傳訊息所提及的言論。”; “發表此言論的是以色列另一位保守派宗教領袖梅爾‧馬祖茲（Meir Mazuz）”] To check who made the statement, the Taiwan FactCheck Center says it asked Israeli fact-checking organization The Whistle. Its founder and CEO, Boaz Rakocz, confirmed Litzman’s infection and recovery but denied that he had made the circulating statement. Rakocz also provided a fact-check by CheckNews, the fact-checking team of French newspaper Libération, which likewise attributed the remark to Mazuz rather than Litzman. [S1: “查核中心詢問以色列查核組織《The Whistle》，《The Whistle》創辦人兼執行長Boaz Rakocz 回覆表示，以色列衛生部長黎茲曼（Yaakov Litzman）確診感染COVID-19，現已康復。不過，他未曾說過網傳訊息所提及的言論。”; “Boaz提供由法國媒體《解放報（Libération）》旗下查核團隊《CheckNews》發布的查核報告”] The review also describes searching for reports using the terms “Meir Mazuz” and “LGBT,” and finding coverage by The Times of Israel and The New Arab. It reports that Mazuz spoke at a yeshiva on March 7, saying that gay pride parades were contrary to nature and that the Creator would take revenge when people violated nature. The report says the remark prompted protests from religious figures and LGBTQ groups and calls for an apology. The available excerpt establishes the review’s attribution and the distinction between the two men; it does not provide the full underlying CheckNews or news articles. [S1: “查核中心以關鍵字「Meir Mazuz、LGBT」搜尋相關報導” ; “馬祖茲於3月7日在「葉史瓦（yeshiva，又被稱為「授業座」，為猶太教的傳教機構）」上表示：「同志遊行是違反自然的，當有人違反自然，創造自然者就會向他復仇」”]

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Houseflies can transmit the COVID-19 virus

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines a social-media post claiming that a Chinese study proved houseflies can transmit COVID-19, and that the finding had recently been confirmed by the Government of India. It identifies the post’s video as one of Amitabh Bachchan and distinguishes what the cited study said from what the post claimed. The review reports that the study concerned SARS-CoV-2 RNA in respiratory and faecal samples from patients—not transmission by houseflies—and that the study did not establish faecal-oral transmission. The review quotes the World Health Organization’s position that there was no evidence or information suggesting COVID-19 was transmitted through houseflies. It also notes WHO’s distinction between possible detection of the virus in faeces and demonstrated faecal-oral transmission: the review says there had been no reports of the latter. These points address the claimed route of infection directly, rather than treating the presence of viral RNA in faecal samples as proof of transmission by flies. For the video’s provenance, the review says Bachchan tweeted it on March 25, 2020, with text about a Lancet study finding that coronavirus RNA persisted in human excreta longer than in respiratory samples; it reports the tweet was later deleted and archived. It also says an Indian health ministry official, Lav Agarwal, responded that the disease does not spread through flies. Taken together, the review’s cited evidence does not support the post’s inference from faecal-sample findings to housefly transmission.

ComprovaHealth & medicine

Governador de NY mostra pesquisa que comprova a ineficácia do isolamento

Publisher’s rating: Enganoso: Vídeo compartilhado nas redes sociais apresenta somente parte de uma entrevista do governador de Nova York para afirmar que o isolamento foi em vão. Ainda que os dados apresentados sejam verdadeiros, o vídeo omite a parte em que Andrew Cuomo diz que o número de casos começou a cair no estado depois das medidas de isolamento social