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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

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

【錯誤】網傳影片片頭宣稱「特朗普終於承認，新冠肺炎就是之前的美國流感」?

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim concerned a Chinese-language video title and opening that said Trump had finally admitted that COVID-19 was the earlier American flu. The Taiwan FactCheck Center traced the circulating 51-second clip to a March 4, 2020 telephone interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. It compared the clip with Fox’s longer program and reported that the short video came from a passage between 23:21 and 24:31. The review’s conclusion was that the interview did not contain the claimed admission. (The review describes the clip’s provenance as: “網傳影片是出自《福斯新聞》3月4日新聞影片23:21至24:31的談話”.) The relevant passage was about the reported COVID-19 death rate, not an identification of COVID-19 with an earlier American flu. In the transcript reproduced by the review, Trump disputed the reported 3.4% rate, said his own estimate was “way under 1%,” and used the phrase “corona flu and-or virus.” The review interprets that wording as a verbal slip; it does not present it as Trump saying COVID-19 was the flu previously circulating in the United States. The key distinction is between an imprecise phrase during a discussion of severity and the video title’s much broader assertion of equivalence. The review states: “傳言指稱，「川普承認，新冠肺炎就是之前的美國流感」，完全扭曲此訪談之文意。” The Center also examined the full Fox interview and described it as covering Trump’s views on the outbreak, including his comments on the death rate and travel restrictions. It says the full interview likewise did not include the claimed statement. Separately, the Center reports searching Trump’s recent Twitter posts and checking Reuters, the Associated Press, and CNN for reports of a public admission, without finding the alleged message or reporting. These checks support the review’s conclusion that the video’s Chinese headline and opening added a claim not established by the interview excerpt. The review summarizes its comparison this way: “完整的新聞節目中，川普並未提到「新冠肺炎就是之前的美國流感」。”

NewtralHealth & medicine

El audio con recomendaciones sobre el coronavirus que se atribuye a un jefe médico del Gregorio Marañón es falso

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a recording that was attributed to the head of Cardiology at Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón Hospital. In the audio, the speaker reportedly described coronavirus as being in a phase of “uncontrolled spread,” said containment had ended, discussed the hospital’s supposed situation and patients who were intubated, predicted a sharp rise in figures in Madrid, and offered recommendations to avoid infection. Newtral reports that both the hospital’s communications department and the official Twitter account of Madrid’s regional health department denied the audio and denied that it had been made by the hospital’s head of Cardiology. The article therefore identifies the central problem as false attribution: the recording’s claims were presented as coming from a senior hospital doctor, but the named institutions rejected that attribution. Newtral also urged people to consult official sources.

NewtralHealth & medicine

Hay siete casos de coronavirus confirmados en técnicos de ambulancias de la Generalitat

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review examined a circulating image claiming that seven ambulance technicians in the Generalitat’s Sistema d’Emergències Mèdiques (SEM) were infected with coronavirus. This is the same service and the same alleged number of cases as in the claim. The review reports that Newtral contacted the SEM directly: the service said that no Generalitat ambulance worker had tested positive for coronavirus. (S1: “Se está difundiendo una imagen que asegura que hay ‘siete técnicos de ambulancias infectados de coronavirus ’ en el Sistema d’Emergències Mèdiques (SEM) de la Generalitat.”; “Contactados por Newtral.es, desde el SEM explican que no hay ningún trabajador de ambulancias de la Generalitat que haya dado positivo en coronavirus.”) The review also distinguishes confirmed infections from precautionary monitoring. The SEM said that eleven workers were being observed because of contact with cases, “a modo preventivo”; it did not report those workers as confirmed positive cases. Thus, the reported monitoring does not substantiate the image’s claim of seven confirmed infections. (S1: “De otro lado, confirman que sí hay once trabajadores en observación por contactos ‘a modo preventivo’”)

FACTLYHealth & medicine

A worker of Prince hotel in Mehdipatnam has tested positive for Coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media message alleging that a worker at Prince Hotel in Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad, had tested positive for coronavirus. FACTLY says the message had circulated for several days and identifies the Facebook post as having been posted on 8 March 2020. The review reports that it found no news reports confirming a case in Mehdipatnam. To check the allegation, the review compared the claim with reported case information for Telangana and consulted the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website. It says that, at the time, the state had one confirmed case, involving a software engineer from Bangalore—not a hotel worker. The review dates that case to 2 March 2020, before the Facebook post appeared. The review also reports a later update from Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajendra: the previously positive person had tested negative and was expected to be discharged soon. These points address the specific hotel-worker allegation; the excerpt does not describe direct contact with the hotel or identify the post’s author.

The QuintHealth & medicine

Girl died because of coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video showing a woman collapsing in an electronic store. Its accompanying post said she had been attacked by coronavirus and died within two minutes. The Quint’s review identifies this video and checks the claim about the woman’s cause of death, rather than relying on the post’s description of what happened. The review reports that the woman’s father rejected the coronavirus explanation. He told local media: “My daughter did not die of coronavirus. That is incorrect.” The review also says that the woman reportedly died of a heart attack. These details contradict the post’s assertion that coronavirus caused her collapse and death. To trace the footage, the review says it fragmented the video using InVid and reverse-searched a key frame. That search led to a BH Online article carrying the same video, identifying the woman as 20-year-old Nur Izzah Izzati. The article reportedly said she was taken to hospital but could not be saved. The review’s account thus links its identification to the same footage and cites her father’s denial as direct evidence against the coronavirus claim.

NewtralHealth & medicine

Un grupo de vecinos “gitanos de Haro” rechazan seguir los protocolos de Sanidad

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral reviewed a social-media claim that the Guardia Civil in Haro, La Rioja, had repeatedly gone to the home of a group of local Roma residents because they were not complying with medically instructed coronavirus isolation. The review rejects that claim as false. Its account of what happened is based on information provided to Newtral by the Guardia Civil of Logroño, which handles press communications about Haro. According to the Guardia Civil, officers did notify different families in Haro of isolation measures on Sunday, February 8, and Monday, February 9, amid the spread of positive coronavirus cases. That evidence establishes that authorities issued isolation notifications, but it does not substantiate the more specific allegation that the same group of Roma neighbours refused to follow the protocols or that officers had to return to their home for that reason. Newtral’s distinction is central: notifications to different families are not evidence of the alleged repeated confrontation with one group. The excerpt does not provide further details about the families, the medical instructions, or the circulation and origin of the social-media post. The conclusion should therefore be understood as Newtral’s reported account of the Guardia Civil’s response to this specific allegation, not as a broader account of every isolation measure in Haro.

Nausheen KhanHealth & medicine

People of Wuhan City are screaming for help amid Coronavirus lockdown

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video said to show people in Wuhan, China, screaming from their homes and begging for their lives during the coronavirus lockdown. The review says the video was indeed from Wuhan, but distinguishes that location from the interpretation being shared with it: the claim that residents were screaming for their lives was false. It also describes a Bharat Samachar editor-in-chief sharing the video with that interpretation, and says it was circulated on Facebook with the same claim. [S1: “The video indeed is from the Wuhan city of China but the claim that people are screaming for their lives is false.”; “The video has also been shared on Facebook by multiple users with the same claim”] To check the video’s provenance, the reviewers report conducting a reverse image search. They found a similar post containing the same video, with a South China Morning Post logo visible in the upper-right corner and the outlet’s name at the end. The review says this led them to search for reporting about Wuhan and the South China Morning Post. [S1: “On conducting a reverse image search, we found a similar tweet by a user ‘Madhav Singh Rathore’ who tweeted the same video where we saw a logo on the top-right corner and South China Morning Post written at the end of the video.”; “We, then, came across several reports by media outlets including South China Morning Post and Nation Thailand.”] The review identifies a South China Morning Post article dated 28 January as carrying the same video and reporting that residents were shouting and singing patriotic songs to cheer one another up. It also says Wuhan had been under lockdown since 23 January. That account gives a different explanation for the sounds in the footage than the claim that people were begging for their lives; the review concludes that the claim misrepresented what the video showed. [S1: “According to the South China Morning Post article dated 28 January, the residents of Wuhan City have been shouting out of their windows and singing patriotic songs to cheer each other up.”; “Wuhan has been under lockdown since 23 January after Coronavirus outbreak.”]

NewtralHealth & medicine

Audio del científico Rodolfo Llinás que aconseja aguantar la respiración y beber cada 15 minutos para combatir el coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral examined an audio shared as advice from scientist Rodolfo Llinás for detecting or fighting coronavirus. The recording recommends holding one’s breath for more than 10 seconds and drinking liquids every 15 minutes. The review reports that Llinás told the Colombian outlet El Espectador the recording had nothing to do with him, and says the advice had previously circulated in an unattributed audio version. The specific attribution to Llinás was therefore false, according to the review. The review also assessed the medical claims in the recording. It reports that the World Health Organization told Newtral there was no scientific evidence that holding one’s breath could detect coronavirus, and that, at the time described in the article, detection required an analytical test. Infectious-disease specialist Gabriela Abelenda, from Bellvitge University Hospital, said drinking water would not eliminate the virus: the principal mucosa where it had been isolated was the nasopharynx, which drinking water could not reach. Newtral further addressed the recording’s claim that waiting for a fever could mean the lungs already had 50% fibrosis. Abelenda explained that fibrosis occurs after pneumonia, as scarring following a significant infection, rather than in the early stages of illness. The review also notes that the same audio was sometimes circulated on Facebook with a different false attribution, to the head of cardiology at Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón Hospital.