Fact check: Widely shared video contains false claim COVID-19 pandemic is fake

Warning: some of the quotes in this story contain language that readers may find offensive.

A Facebook Live broadcast with over 12,000 shares carries the false message that the COVID-19 pandemic is fake and includes references to multiple conspiracy theories.

The video was broadcast on August 6, 2020 and reached over 500,000 views. The original Facebook Live upload is no longer publicly visible. However, it has been shared on YouTube (here&t=2s) and reuploaded to Facebook (here). It features an Australian man speaking to camera for nine minutes and five seconds.

The speech includes opinions about Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and specifically the response in the state of Victoria and the actions of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. The video also makes references to topics featured in conspiracy theories relating to COVID-19. This article will focus on the primary claim that the pandemic is fake.

Early in the broadcast, the user says: “While you’re cowering at home watching the idiot box telling you about some fucking fake pandemic while you get sold out. Right now you are being lied to. Your television is lying to you.”

The statement that the COVID-19 pandemic is fake is incorrect. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the name of the virus that causes the disease COVID-19 (here shorturl.at/flvE2 ).

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the virus was identified by Chinese authorities on January 7, 2020 (here).

As of August 26 the World Health Organization has recorded 814,438 deaths as a result of the pandemic and over 23 million confirmed cases (covid19.who.int/). As of August 26, Australia had 25,053 reported cased of COVID-19 and 525 deaths. The majority of these cases and deaths were in the state of Victoria with 18,608 confirmed cases and 462 deaths (here).

In an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, the state of Victoria has imposed a night curfew, tightened restrictions on people’s daily movements and ordered large parts of the economy to close (here).

Reuters has debunked similar claims that the coronavirus outbreak is a hoax ( here , here , here ).

VERDICT

False. A video circulating on social media makes the false primary claim that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Reuters can be found

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