Fake news and conspiracy theories are pretty common, but throw in a widespread coronavirus that’s threatening the world and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster.
It’s important to always ensure that you’re getting your news from verified sources (like Goody Feed), although I do enjoy the occasional conspiracy theory, like how “the world is ending in 2012” or how chickens actually came before the egg.
Before I get into the fake news and conspiracy theories, let me run through some facts.
Facts
There are currently five confirmed cases of the coronavirus here in Singapore, all of which are imported cases.
Worldwide, there are more than 2700 confirmed cases and at least 80 deaths, while countries such as Cambodia have recently confirmed their first Wuhan virus case.
It’s also worthwhile to note that China authorities believe that the virus’ ability to spread seems to be getting stronger.
Fake News
Not let me debunk the fake news for you on social media. Fake news and conspiracy theories have been spreading all over social media with regards to the Wuhan virus.
More specifically, a post has been circulating about how the virus has been patented and a vaccine is already available.
The new fad disease called the “coronavirus” is sweeping headlines.
Funny enough, there was a patent for the coronavirus was filed in 2015 and granted in 2018.https://t.co/qqKRSptDgf
— Jordan Sather (@Jordan_Sather_) January 22, 2020
This twitter post has since garnered 4.7k retweets.
It’s safe to say that this post is not true, and these posts actually refer to other viruses.
There is also a conspiracy theory that the virus was in fact, made in a lab.
A similar post on Facebook, has since been flagged as false information.
No Vaccine Available Yet
The fact is that there is no patent and no vaccine available for the new Wuhan coronavirus thus far.
The link provided in the fake news post is linked to patents related to two different viruses in the coronavirus family.
That false link is for a mutated form of avian infectious bronchitis virus, or IBV, which is only able to infect poultry and not people.
Lest you’re unaware, according to Centers for Disease Contro and Prevention, Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that tend to cause respiratory illnesses in humans and a variety of other illnesses in animals.
Matthew Frieman, a coronavirus researcher at the University of Maryland explained that “Neither of these has anything to do with the new 2019-nCoV virus.”
He also added, “This is clearly a bogus theory that this virus was created in a lab, patented and has a vaccine already made to it.”
The current progress in terms of research is that researchers are trying to understand the origin, spread and severity of the latest coronavirus.
However, thus far, evidence suggests that the virus was transmitted to humans from a yet-to-be-identified animal.
SARS, for example, is believed to have come from bats and then spread to humans through civets, which is a cat-like animal that is eaten as a delicacy in Asia.
After, SARS became transmissible from person to person.
Remember, do not believe everything you read on the internet, and do refer to the MOH website for the latest updates.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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