Claims about Russia, Covid-19 and 5G are almost all false
18 May 2021
What was claimed
Russia was the first country in the world to dissect Covid-19 corpses (going against WHO’s criminal orders of no autopsies.)
Our verdict
This is false. Scientists in Wuhan, China performed post-mortems as early as 16 February 2020, while the first Covid-19 death in Russia wasn’t announced until March 2020.
What was claimed
Covid-19 does not exist as a virus, but rather a bacterium that has been exposed to 5G radiation.
Our verdict
This is false. Covid-19 is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. 5G has nothing to do with Covid-19.
What was claimed
Covid-19 has been found to cause blood clotting.
Our verdict
It is true that abnormal blood clotting has been observed in some Covid-19 patients, but this is not the only potential serious outcome of the disease.
What was claimed
Ventilators and intensive care units were never used in Russia.
Our verdict
This is untrue. For example, one study in Russia looked at more than 1,500 Covid-19 patients in ICU, many of whom were given respiratory support via ventilation.
What was claimed
Covid-19 can be cured by antibiotic tablets, anti-inflammatory and taking anticoagulants such as aspirin.
Our verdict
While the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen has been tested in Covid-19 patients and the anticoagulant heparin has been used to treat some patients, it is misleading to say they “cure” the disease. Antibiotics are not used to directly treat viruses and aspirin can be used as pain relief in adults but not as a cure for Covid-19.
An Instagram post makes a number of claims about Covid-19, Russia and 5G.
We have covered near-identical claims in the past, but with a focus on Italy rather than Russia. Again, almost every claim—including assertions that Covid-19 is caused by bacteria being exposed to radiation and that Russia broke World Health Organisation (WHO) rules against autopsies for Covid-19 deaths—are false.
“Russia is the first country in the world to dissect Covid-19 corpses (going against WHO’s criminal orders of no autopsies)”
This is false—Russia was not the first country to carry out an autopsy on a Covid-19 patient. Scientists in Wuhan, China performed post-mortems as early as 16 February 2020.
Russia announced its first Covid-19 death more than a month later, in March.
As we have written before, it is not true that the WHO ordered that autopsies not take place on people who died of Covid-19.
“It was determined that Covid does not exist as a virus, but rather a bacterium that has been exposed to radiation…‘bacteria exposed to 5G rays’ are to blame”
Covid-19 is caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. It’s true that people with Covid-19 can get secondary infections caused by bacteria, but the bacteria themselves don’t cause Covid-19.
As we’ve said before, 5G has nothing to do with Covid-19.
“Covid-19 has been found to cause blood clotting”
It is true that Covid-19 can cause blood clotting problems. Issues caused by abnormal blood clotting, including strokes and pulmonary embolisms, have been observed in Covid-19 patients.
However, clotting is not the only dangerous outcome of severe Covid-19.
“Ventilators and intensive care units were never used in Russia”
This is not true. For example, one study published in October 2020 specifically looked at more than 1,500 Russian Covid-19 patients in intensive care units.
The same study identified that more than 80% of patients had been given respiratory support with either invasive or noninvasive ventilation.
In May 2020, five Covid-19 patients died in a fire in a St Petersburg intensive care unit after a ventilator reportedly short-circuited.
“This disease can be ‘cured’ by ‘antibiotic tablets, anti-inflammatory and taking anticoagulants (aspirin)’”
As we have written before, antibiotics are not used to directly treat viruses, though can be given to Covid-19 patients who are suffering from secondary bacterial infections.
The anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen is being tested to see whether it can help Covid-19 patients, and the anticoagulant heparin has been used in some cases to treat Covid-19 illness.
Aspirin can be used for pain relief in adults if they have a cough or cold but is not a specific cure or treatment for Covid-19.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the majority of claims, including those about Russia, 5G and Covid-19 treatments have little or no basis in fact.
*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Full Fact can be found here ***
