PeakMetrics / Fact Checks
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
Testing kits in the United Kingdom supplied by China are contaminated with COVID-19
Publisher’s rating: Misleading
SEAT está esperando peticiones de hospitales de España para entregar respiradores homologados
Publisher’s rating: Falso
The claim concerned a circulated message saying SEAT was waiting for Spanish hospitals to request approved respirators, and asking people to share contact details and instructions. Newtral reports that SEAT said it had sent no such message through any official channel and had launched no campaign of that kind. The review gives a different account of distribution: SEAT said respirators it had manufactured began being distributed on the previous Saturday night, coordinated with each autonomous community, which submitted requests through the Ministry of Health. This contradicts the message’s portrayal of SEAT as waiting for hospitals to make requests directly.
Op Facebook wordt gewaarschuwd om bij (lichte) COVID-19-klachten alleen paracetamol te gebruiken en geen ibuprofen of andere NSAID’s (niet-steroïde anti-inflammatoire geneesmiddelen) zoals diclofinac, naprofen of naproxen. Die zouden het makkelijker maken voor het nieuwe coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 om menselijke cellen binnen te dringen en zich zo te vermenigvuldigen. Jongeren die NSAID’s hadden gebruikt, zouden daarom op de intensive care zijn beland.
Publisher’s rating: Voor de op Facebook beweerde incidenten is geen bewijs aangetroffen; niet voor niets kwam de auteur van de post niet met een reactie toen andere gebruikers naar een bron vroegen. De WHO adviseerde na berichten die viraal gingen, eerst tegen gebruik van ibuprofen bij COVID-19-achtige klachten en trok dat advies later weer in. Toch adviseren overheidsinstanties en andere experts in Nederland, België en andere landen paracetamol te gebruiken, zolang de arts niets anders adviseert. Er moet namelijk nog nader onderzoek naar de kwestie worden gedaan, en zo kunnen (gewone) bijwerkingen van ibuprofen worden voorkomen.
59 Kenyans killed after drinking Dettol to prevent COVID-19
Publisher’s rating: False.
Wissenschafter aus Hongkong haben bereits im Jahr 2007 vor dem Ausbruch des Coronavirus gewarnt. Das Vorkommen von Viren in Fledermäusen und die chinesische Tradition des Essens exotischer Lebewesen sei eine „Zeitbombe”.
Publisher’s rating: Diese Behauptung ist wahr. In einem wissenschaftlichen Artikel zur SARS-Pandemie 2002/2003 warnten Wissenschafter vor einem Ausbruch ähnlicher Viren und verwiesen dabei explizit auf Fledermäuse, die derzeit als ursprünglicher Wirt des neuen Coronavirus gelten.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has made Kanipakam temple a quarantine center for coronavirus suspects
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
Hospital Unimed-Rio cura covid-19 do paciente Antônio Carlos,67, com cloroquina
Publisher’s rating: FALSO: Hospital Unimed-Rio nega que tenha atendido paciente chamado Antonio Carlos, de 67 anos, curado da covid-19 com cloroquina, características descritas em um tuíte que viralizou.
La bebida de ajo, cebolla, limón y jengibre cura el COVID-19
Publisher’s rating: Falso
The review addresses a video in which a woman described as a supposed Spanish doctor says that she and her family’s COVID-19-associated symptoms improved after consuming garlic, onion, lemon and ginger together. The review distinguishes that personal account from evidence that the drink cures the disease, concluding that the claimed cure is unsupported. For garlic, the review cites World Health Organization advice: although garlic is healthy and may have antimicrobial properties, there was no evidence that eating it protects against the virus responsible for the outbreak. For ginger, it reports that the Pan American Health Organization had rejected a claim that chewing ginger slows viral replication in the throat. That claim had spread through a false statement purportedly signed by Peru’s Ministry of Health; the review quotes the organization’s warning that there was no evidence ginger protected people from COVID-19. The review also notes that it found no official indication linking onion to the virus and cites a health-information article saying onion had no antiviral or antibiotic effect, while cautioning that limited health findings were mostly from laboratory or animal studies and could not be extrapolated to the general population. It adds that claims about lemon preventing coronavirus had also been false. Taken together, the cited material does not establish that combining these ingredients treats or cures COVID-19; the video’s report of symptom improvement is not presented as proof of a cure.
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Deux voyants et un livre écrit par CIA auraient prédit la COVID-19.
Publisher’s rating: Partiellement faux
Vídeo mostra Hospital das Clínicas de SP vazio e sem nenhum paciente com covid-19
Publisher’s rating: FALSO: Um vídeo que circula pelas redes sociais mostra imagens de outro hospital, que fica em Ribeirão Preto, no interior de São Paulo. Ele também tem pacientes internados com a covid-19
Inhaling hot water steam can kill coronavirus
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
FACTLY examines a social-media video making the specific claim that inhaling hot-water steam kills coronavirus. The review distinguishes killing the virus from easing symptoms: it says steam inhalation may provide temporary relief in some cases of the common cold and flu, but reports no scientific evidence that it kills coronavirus. [S1: “A video is being shared widely on social media with a claim that inhaling hot water steam kills coronavirus.”; “While hot water steam inhalation may provide some temporary relief for the symptoms in some cases like common cold and flu, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that it can kill coronavirus.”] The review describes checking information online and says it found that neither the World Health Organization nor the Indian Government had suggested steam inhalation as a measure against coronavirus. It also cites a Press Information Bureau clarification calling a similar viral message “fake.” These are the checks and findings reported in the excerpt; it does not provide study names, clinical data, or further details about the video or the PIB clarification. [S1: “When searched on the internet, it was found that neither the World Health Organization nor the Indian Government has suggested any such measure.”; “Also, when a similar message went viral, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has clarified that the message is ‘fake’.”]
Claim: Does every 100 year this world facing a pandemic
Publisher’s rating: Partly False
The review examined a social-media post asserting that disease outbreaks recur every century: bubonic plague in 1620, plague in 1720, cholera in 1820, “Spanish virus” in 1920, and coronavirus in 2020. The post also made claims about deaths. The review concludes that the pattern is misleading: the dates and descriptions do not establish a reliable cycle of worldwide pandemics, and some details are incorrect.
Man in Italy killed self after he lost his family to coronavirus
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
Cross River Governor, Ben Ayade claims that Social Distancing is not needed to stop the spread of COVID-19 only face masks
Publisher’s rating: False
World Health Organization (WHO) has advised people against eating bakery items amid COVID-19 outbreak
Publisher’s rating: FALSE