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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「其實疫情已經在高雄、台南等地傳播，每天都運好幾卡車的屍體去台中統一焚化...」？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim said COVID-19 was spreading in Kaohsiung and Tainan, officials were suppressing the real case count, and several truckloads of bodies were being taken to Taichung each day for cremation. The Taiwan FactCheck Center examined Taichung cremation records covering January 21, 2020—the date Taiwan announced its first confirmed case—through February 23, when the rumor circulated. It reported that daily cremation totals fluctuated but showed no upward trend; the recorded deceased were mainly from Taichung, Changhua and Nantou, with only a small share from other areas, including Tainan and Kaohsiung. The review also consulted medical experts. A National Cheng Kung University medical-school vice dean said the claimed situation was not occurring in southern Taiwan. The chair of the Taiwan Society of Emergency Medicine said hospitals reported case information to the national health authority and that the Central Epidemic Command Center promptly released updates, rather than concealing cases. At a February 23 briefing, the center reported 28 confirmed cases, one death and five people discharged. These records and expert accounts do not support the rumor’s claims of widespread hidden infections or daily truckloads of bodies. The review separately checked the rumor’s purported eyewitness setting: a relative supposedly heard officials speaking outside the health authority building during roadwork. The checker reported finding no manhole cover on the relevant sidewalk or road, no construction during the reporter’s visits on February 22, and no construction recalled by the building’s guard. The review also noted that the rumor used simplified Chinese and terms it described as atypical of Taiwan usage; that observation is supplementary, while the cremation records and case reporting address the central allegations.

BR24 FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Ein Vitamin-D-Mangel mache Menschen anfälliger für das neuartige Coronavirus, die Ausbreitung von Corona könne daher mit der Gabe von Vitamin D bekämpft werden.

Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Richtig ist laut Experten zwar, dass viele Menschen in West- und Mitteleuropa einen Vitamin-D-Mangel hätten. Ein Vitamin-C-Mangel sei dagegen in West- und Mitteleuropa sehr ungewöhnlich. Dass ein Vitamin-Mangel Ursache einer Erkrankung mit dem neuen Coronavirus sei, lasse sich aber nicht nachweisen.

NewtralHealth & medicine

Pareja de ancianos “se saluda por última vez” al estar afectados por el coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Engañoso

The claim attached a dramatic explanation to a specific video: that an elderly couple in China were both affected by coronavirus and were saying goodbye for the last time. Newtral reports that the video shows two people holding hands in hospital beds, but says it found no evidence that either had contracted the disease. The footage’s accompanying social-media text presented their meeting as potentially their last; that wording was not proof of a coronavirus diagnosis. Newtral traced the clip’s circulation and investigated who the people were. It reports that a user identified as Jiang Wei posted it on Twitter on February 2, and that reverse-image searches of frames located the recording at the Third Age Hospital in Xindu district, Chengdu. Citing a February 5 Noticias Caracol report, Newtral identifies the patients as Zhang, 85, and Wen, 87. That account says Zhang was admitted for lung cancer, arteriosclerosis and chronic lung disease, while Wen was hospitalized after losing consciousness from respiratory failure. The report says her condition worsened and Zhang asked to see her. The account of a final meeting is therefore distinct from the claim that coronavirus caused it. Newtral says the couple were brought together in adjacent beds on January 31, when Wen died, and that their children chose not to tell Zhang because of his condition. It also reports that the hospital’s Weibo account and the Xindu district public-relations department’s original Douyin post did not mention the new coronavirus. The evidence described supports a meeting and a death, but not the viral claim that the couple were affected by coronavirus.