Fact Check: Is coronavirus a normal flu as claimed in viral video? | World Health organisation|

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A video of a group of panellists claiming that the world is not facing a coronavirus pandemic is widespread on social media platforms. “WHO has completely taken a U-turn and now says that Corona patient neither needs to be isolated, nor quarantined, nor needs social Distancing, and it cannot even transmit from one patient to another [sic],” reads the accompanying claim viral with the video.

Verdict:
False

Fact-check:
1. The video does not show WHO panellists. The international agency advises isolation for COVID-19 patients.
The video begins with a woman identifying herself as Elke De Kerke, a general practitioner representing the Netherlands. She is the founder of ‘Doctors for Truth’. The panellists are a part of ‘World Doctors Alliance’, a body that identifies as an NGO. It is infamous for promoting conspiracy theories on coronavirus and medical misinformation.
British-Pakistani doctor Mohammad Adil had his license suspended by the General Medical Council of UK for claiming that the coronavirus pandemic is a conspiracy. The website of World Doctors Alliance claims that Dr Adil formed the organisation. Another doctor Heiko Schöning associated with the Alliance was arrested for speaking at an anti-mask rally in central London.
None of the panellists are medical practitioners with the World Health Organisation (WHO). The claim that the WHO took a complete “U-turn” and declared that COVID patients needn’t be isolated or quarantined has been debunked earlier.
The WHO in fact said that even asymptomatic people should quarantine. “People not showing symptoms can spread the virus, whether they ultimately feel sick or not. That’s why wearing masks and keeping distance are so important in limiting transmission.”

2. The world is coping with a pandemic.
The WHO defines a pandemic as the “worldwide spread of a new disease”. According to John Hopkins COVID tracker, global cases of the virus has crossed 172 million. A few small countries and island nations have remained free of the coronavirus mainly due to isolation which has had economic repercussions, but most of the world was coping with the pandemic and many are still experiencing devastating effects.

3. COVID-19 is not a normal flu virus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) states, “Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such a MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV.”
The novel coronavirus is a new strain of the coronavirus family. It has unique characteristics and has never been discovered before. It has mild to severe symptoms and may also cause deaths for critical patients. Serious patients may need hospitalisation, intensive care, oxygen or ventilators to survive. As witnessed in the second wave of COVID-19 in India, thousands of people have fallen ill and died due to a lack of oxygen. The common cold, on the other hand, is not deadly.
“When any of the coronaviruses (or rhinoviruses for that matter) cause the common cold, the physicians’ aim is to (a) stop the transmission of the infection to other people and (b) treat the symptoms. This is because the common cold is a self-limited disease – it cures by itself. It is for this reason, antivirals or antibiotics are not given for a common cold. In the usual clinical picture, it is also not required to find out which organism has caused the common cold since it has no bearing on its treatment,” Dr Sharfaroz Satani wrote in an Alt News Sci Check published on March 25, 2020.
4. Number of false positives/ negatives in PCR tests is exaggerated.
Dr Niket Rai, MBBS, MD, Maulana Azad Medical College, explained in an article last year, “Specificity of RT-PCR to detect SARS COV 2 in swab sample from nose and throat is around 98%. It means that out of 100 samples in only 2 samples it gives false-positive result…it is not recommended to repeat the test when it comes positive.” CBC quoted experts who said that RT-PCR is not prone to false positives and is routinely described as the “gold standard” for a reason.
A year-old video of a panel discussion by ‘World Doctors Alliance’ has been revived on Indian social media amid the second wave of the raging pandemic. The video raises conspiracies theories that have been debunked several times in the past by fact-checking organisations, news outlets and experts.

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