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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.

13,677 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Government of India has announced a ‘National Lockdown’ in the country from 20 March 2020

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned an image circulating on social media that presented a phased national lockdown for India, beginning on 20 March. The image described lockdown periods, social distancing, and a later lifting of restrictions. The review’s investigation addressed whether the Government of India had announced that plan; it concluded that it had not. The review reports that it searched Google for information corroborating the announcement and found none. It also examined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 19 March address about the coronavirus outbreak. According to the review, Modi urged social distancing, staying home as much as possible, and observing a “Janata Curfew” on 22 March from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; the review says he did not announce a national lockdown. The review further reports that the Press Information Bureau had debunked the viral messages as baseless. It identifies the image not as an announced government plan, but as part of a presentation submitted to the government by entrepreneurs across India. These details support the review’s conclusion that the circulating image did not establish that the government had announced a national lockdown beginning 20 March.

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

【事實釐清】網傳「從斯堡教學醫院收到用生命代價換來的重要消息。如果你已經生病，堅決不要吃非類固醇類消炎藥進行止痛或者降溫...可能會會加重新冠肺炎病情！」？

Publisher’s rating: 事實釐清

The viral message claimed that a warning from a “Strasbourg teaching hospital” showed that people who were ill should not take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain or fever because they could worsen COVID-19. Taiwan FactCheck Center reported that its search found no hospital by that name. It traced a similar warning to a March 14 statement by French Health Minister Olivier Veran, who mentioned ibuprofen and cortisone; that statement was not evidence that the viral message came from the named hospital.

BR24 FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Corona-Viren gab es schon immer.

Publisher’s rating: Im Kontext irreführend. Es gibt zwar viele Coronaviren, aber: Das aktuelle Virus Sars-Cov-2 ist neuartig. Es ist eine Mutante, die sich leicht übertragen kann. Entscheidend: Es ist auch deutlich krankheitserregender als die bereits bekannten Corona-Viren, wie die Zahl der vielen Schwerstkranken und Toten eindeutig belegt. Was Sars-Cov-2 zudem gefährlicher als Influenza macht, ist, dass es weder eine Grundimmunität in der Bevölkerung gibt noch einen Impfstoff.

BR24 FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Durch Sars-Cov-2 sterben nicht mehr Menschen als durch Influenza.

Publisher’s rating: Irreführend. Für diese Aussage ist es zu früh, und sie ist so nicht zu belegen. Die Pandemie ist noch nicht am Ende. Wegen der exponentiellen Infektionsrate ist bei einer ungebremsten Verbreitung von Sars-CoV-2 mit einer deutlichen höheren Zahl an Toten zu rechnen als durch eine besonders pathogen verlaufende Influenza-Infektion. Hinzu kommt: Durch exponentiell ansteigenden Infektionsverlauf (anders als bei Influenza, die oft in bis zu drei in Wellen abläuft) kann es zur Überlastung in Krankenhäusern kommen, sodass auch die Versorgung von Influenza-Infizierten und anderen Erkrankten gefährdet ist. Somit können auch bei anderen Kranken die Todesfallzahlen steigen - zusätzlich zu Covid-19-Toten. Allerdings wurden Anti-Corona-Maßnahmen ergriffen - was die Ausbreitung stark gebremst hat.

Ayaan KhanHealth & medicine

Ethiopian Airlines plane full of people infected with COVID-19 lands at Addis Ababa airport

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a social-media video said to show an Ethiopian Airlines plane arriving from Italy at Addis Ababa Airport with most passengers infected with coronavirus. The review identifies the video’s actual subject as a mock rescue drill at Blaise Diagne Airport, near Diass in Senegal—not an arrival in Addis Ababa. It dates the drill to 28 November 2019, months before the claim circulated amid the COVID-19 outbreak. [S1]

BR24 FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Jedes Jahr würde man, wenn man es testen würde an Menschen, die an Atemwegserkrankungen gestorben sind, bei davon 2000 bis 3000 Menschen auch Corona-Viren nachweisen können.

Publisher’s rating: Irreführend. Die Aussage ist eben nicht widerlegbar oder belegbar – weil auf diese anderen Corona-Viren in der Regel nicht getestet wird. Aber: Die Corona-Viren, die Wodarg hier anführt, sind für Erkältungskrankheiten verantwortlich, die außer bei starker Immunschwäche nicht lebensbedrohlich sind. Diese unterscheiden sich in ihrer genetischen Ausstattung und damit ihrer Pathogenität von Sars-Cov-2, das eher dem Sars-1-Virus ähnelt.

BR24 FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Sars-CoV-2 ist kein neuartiges Virus. Sars-Cov-2 sind nichts Besonderes und nicht gefährlicher als andere Viren. Das jetzige Sars-Cov-2 ist nur eine Mutation der bisherigen, üblichen Corona-Viren. Corona-Viren gab es schon immer, sie sind bei 7-15 Prozent aller Atemwegserkrankung dabei. Corona-Viren lösen 15 Prozent der "Lungenkrankheiten" aus.

Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Das neuartige Corona-Virus Sars-Cov-2 ist eine Mutante - bei der aber unter anderem das S-Gen verändert ist. Diese ist für die Ausbildung von Proteinen, insbesondere der sogenannten "spikes", der Andockstellen an Wirtszellen, verantwortlich. Das heißt, dieses Virus kann sich somit leicht übertragen, konkret: von Rachen zu Rachen. Entscheidend: Es ist darüber hinaus deutlich krankheitserregender als die bereits bekannten Corona-Viren, wie die Zahl der vielen Schwerstkranken und Toten eindeutig belegt. Die alten Corona-Viren aber, die Wodarg anführt, sind für Erkältungskrankheiten verantwortlich, die – außer bei starker Immunschwäche – nicht lebensbedrohlich sind. Diese unterscheiden sich in ihrer genetischen Ausstattung und damit ihrer Pathogenität von Sars-Cov-2, das eher dem Sars-1-Virus ähnelt. Was Sars-Cov-2 zudem gefährlicher als Influenza macht, ist, dass es weder eine Grundimmunität in der Bevölkerung gibt noch einen Impfstoff.

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

【部分錯誤】網傳「這是每天 ＃COVID-19感染的情況，請大家注意...」？

Publisher’s rating: 部分錯誤

The review examines a social-media message that presents a purported day-by-day course of COVID-19, from mild cold-like symptoms in the first days to worsening fever and breathing difficulty later. Its central finding is that this timeline should not be treated as a fixed pattern for everyone infected: the experts it consulted said symptoms and the timing of their appearance vary among patients. The review identifies age, underlying health, the amount of virus encountered, and incubation period as factors that can differ between people, and says age and pre-existing illness are especially important to clinical course. [S1] To assess the timeline, the review reports statements from an infectious-disease physician at National Taiwan University Hospital and a Ministry of Health and Welfare disease-control physician. Both said patients do not all experience the same symptoms on a fixed daily schedule. The hospital physician explained that respiratory symptoms can include different problems, and that patients’ ages, health, viral exposure and incubation periods vary; the disease-control physician likewise said symptom types and onset times differ. [S1] The review also addresses the message’s advice that blood tests and chest X-rays are needed at the specified point in the timeline. The experts said symptoms alone cannot distinguish COVID-19 from a cold, and that assessment considered travel to affected areas, relevant contact and possible clusters. According to the review, testing involved a throat-mucosa sample; blood testing could not detect the virus, while a chest X-ray was for a physician to order if considered necessary. Thus, the message’s fixed symptom schedule is not supported, and its testing instructions omit the role of clinical assessment. [S1]

Pagella PoliticaHealth & medicine

«Coronavirus, Abidol è un farmaco utilizzato contro i più comuni virus dell'influenza, funziona impedendo al virus di attraversare la membrana delle cellule e di penetrare al loro interno per replicarsi»

Publisher’s rating: Panzana pazzesca

The review examines a claim shared by M5S senator Elio Lannutti on Twitter on March 16: that a drug called Abidol was used against common flu viruses and could stop the virus entering cells to replicate. It distinguishes Abidol from Arbidol, noting that the review describes them as different drugs: Abidol’s active ingredient is tramadol, while Arbidol contains a different ingredient. The review says Lannutti was most likely referring to Arbidol, which is available in Russia, and that Abidol itself is not sold there. [S1] The review reports that Arbidol is an antiviral whose active ingredient is umifenovir, and that its purpose is to mitigate or shorten symptoms of viral illnesses, particularly influenza. However, it says the drug’s effectiveness even for influenza was unclear. It cites the Italian medical federation’s account that there was no scientific evidence at that time supporting Arbidol’s effectiveness against coronavirus. The review also reports that China had begun experiments on Arbidol and Abidol, but none had demonstrated Lannutti’s claim. [S1] The review further distinguishes laboratory findings from evidence in people: it says the Italian National Institute of Health had reported umifenovir activity against the virus in vitro, meaning in laboratory conditions, not in human patients. Its conclusion was that no specific medicine for Covid-19 had been established, and that ongoing experiments had not yet produced definitive results. [S1]

NewtralHealth & medicine

El video de un suicido en Valencia a causa de la cuarentena por el coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a 22-second video showing a person jumping from the Hotel Valencia Center in Valencia. It was circulated with the assertion that the person acted out of despair over the coronavirus quarantine. Newtral reports that Valencia’s National Police confirmed to it that the footage was recorded in 2019, before the quarantine claim, and had no connection to coronavirus. That directly contradicts the alleged cause and timing; the excerpt does not provide further details about the person or the incident.