Russian Scientist did not doubt Covid-19’s existence as claimed by Pakistani TV Anchor
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By Areeba Fatima | 2nd May 2021 | 2:23 PM
On 29 April 2021, a WhatsApp message was circulated among several WhatsApp groups and a viral YouTube video made by a mainstream media anchor also made the same claims that Russian scientists have proved that Covid-19 doesn’t exist and the thing which is killing millions of people across the globe is a radioactive particle which can be treated by Aspirin. This has already been proven false in an article by Reuters Fact Check. However, the anchor’s video and the social media messages disseminated thereof contained contents of the same Reuters article to distort the public perception. A day after posting this video, the YouTube channel posted another video, retracting from earlier claims.
On 15 April 2021, Reuters Fact Check uploaded an article addressing various claims on social media circulating around the idea that Russian scientists have made a scientific breakthrough by conducting a WHO-forbidden post mortem on a COVID-19 corpse. And according to their discovery, they have concluded that COVID-19 does not exist, is treatable by Aspirin and is a radioactive particle that creates clots in the blood vessels, preventing adequate supply of oxygen to reach critical body parts resulting in death
On 15 April 2021, Reuters Fact Check uploaded an article addressing various claims on social media circulating around the idea that Russian scientists have made a scientific breakthrough by conducting a WHO-forbidden post mortem on a COVID-19 corpse. And according to their discovery, they have concluded that COVID-19 does not exist, is treatable by Aspirin and is a radioactive particle that creates clots in the blood vessels, preventing adequate supply of oxygen to reach critical body parts resulting in death.
Despite the fact check updated by Reuters, from 27 April onwards Pakistani social media accounts started sharing different variations of this text message on Youtube, Twitter and as well as Facebook. You can still find them here, here, here, here, here and here.
This video by Syed Haider Ali with 686K views on YouTube has gathered the most traffic and elaborates on the points mentioned in the text message. On 30 April 2021, a day after posting this video, Ali uploaded another video taking back the claims he made and clarifying that this is in light of the fact that Reuters has also published a clarification addressing these assertions.
He uses the Reuters Fact Check article on the issue to legitimize his claims and argues that he is only quoting a 13 April 2021 article published by Reuters from where he has read everything that he talks about in the video.
Basic Fact Check decided to individually address these claims and establish that this is false information being recycled on Pakistani social media. We also discovered that there has been no Reuters article on this issue on 13 April 2021.
Claim 1: WHO has forbidden autopsies for COVID-19 victims and so Russia is the only country to have conducted it
Fact: WHO has published detailed guidelines on for professionals on how to conduct the autopsy of a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patient
In this report titled “Infection prevention and control for the safe management of a dead body in the context of COVID-19”, the World Health Organization has issued an interim guidance, which has been designed for individuals who tend to the corpses of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. Health-care facilities, mortuaries, public health managers, religious leaders and public health authorities across the world have access to this document. And it clearly establishes the standard operation procedures of conducting a post mortem.
Secondly, Russia is not the only country to have conducted autopsies on COVID-19 victims. The United States of America, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have all conducted autopsies as well. This study on autopsies of COVID-19 victims quotes:
“If publications on COVID-19 autopsy series are seen as an indicator for the autopsy frequency in the respective country, Germany, Italy, the USA, Switzerland, Austria and Great Britain seem to be countries where autopsies are performed at all – at least in individual centers”
Most importantly, the Government of Pakistan Ministry of National Health Services (Department of Regulations and Coordination) has also issued local guidelines for conducting autopsy and burial of COVID-19 victims which further disproves the claim.
This claim was also fact-checked in the same article that Ali claimed to be reading in the video pretending to get his information from there. Although we can not be sure about the intentions and it could possibly have been a case of simply not being able to understand what is written in the article.
However, the information provided was not only false in its content but also false in its source as it did not come from Reuters. In fact, Reuters had already posted a counterfactual on their website, which is the article of 15 April 2021.
Verdict: FALSE
Claim 2: Russian scientists have proven that COVID-19 does not exist as a protein virus. It is actually a radioactive particle which causes blood clotting resulting in difficulty in breathing and death. It is a global scam.
Fact: Russian Health Ministry characterizes COVID-19 as a virus and not a radioactive particle and does not lead to thrombosis.
The Russian Health Ministry has clearly stated on their website that the coronavirus or COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the “SARS-CoV-2” virus. Moreover, the World Health Organization has clarified on their website that it is a myth that COVID-19 is caused by a bacteria and it is actually a virus. Some of the Facebook posts with different variations of these claims included that antibiotics could be used for treatment. However, the WHO website clarifies that antibiotics will not work against the disease, as a treatment. This also makes it clear that it is not a radioactive particle and does not have any traits matching the same.
If Russian research had proven that coronavirus is not a disease then the website associated with the national COVID-19 response mechanism in Russia would not state otherwise. Moreover a disease that causes blood-clotting (thrombosis) is called Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). This article on Cornell University’s website clarifies that DIC is a different disease which results in blood-clotting. However, has also been reported in critically-ill COVID-19 patients. This study by Laura Price, Colm McGabe and others discusses how blood clotting in the pulmonary vessels is a commonly reported condition in acute COVID-19 illness.
Verdict: Partially False – Although blood clotting is common in critically ill patients of COVID-19, thrombosis is not the defining characteristic of the coronavirus, which is not a radioactive particle, nor a bacteria.
The Russian Health Ministry has clearly stated on their website that the coronavirus or COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the “SARS-CoV-2” virus. Moreover, the World Health Organization has clarified on their website that it is a myth that COVID-19 is caused by a bacteria and it is actually a virus. Some of the Facebook posts with different variations of these claims included that antibiotics could be used for treatment. However, the WHO website clarifies that antibiotics will not work against the disease, as a treatment. This also makes it clear that it is not a radioactive particle and does not have any traits matching the same.
