TV Record report does not say that the pandemic was planned, unlike a misleading post – 03/29/2023 – Health

It is misleading to claim, based on news published on TV Record, that the coronavirus pandemic was planned. The 2021 report does not claim this, it just reproduces information from the British newspaper The Telegraph about Chinese and American scientists having proposed, in 2018, to create new types of coronavirus from genetic combination.

The English vehicle, as verified by Projeto Comprova, was based on a request for grants made in 2018 by researchers to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which was subsequently denied.

It is still not known exactly what the origin of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. A theory supported by US intelligence services points to a leak in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, the city where the first cases of the disease were reported. Another, released by the WHO (World Health Organization), shows evidence that the contamination came from animals and started in a market, in the same city.

For Comprova, misleading is content removed from the original context and used in another so that its meaning changes.

Reach

Comprova investigates suspicious content with greater reach on social networks. On Telegram, the post verified here had 6,300 views by March 29.

How do we check

Based on the information in the report and the visual identification that it was TV Record content, the team searched Google for keywords that led to the publication of the news. It contained the broadcast date, making it possible to find the full program. The content was compared with what circulates on social networks and with the caption that accompanies it. Next, news and studies were consulted about the hypotheses raised so far regarding the origin of Sars-CoV-2.

No plans

The report shared with the misleading caption was broadcast by JR na TV, from TV Record, on October 6, 2021. Contrary to what the text shared on social networks supports, the report does not confirm that the Covid-19 pandemic was planned or even deliberately triggered by human action.

Anchors Christina Lemos and Celso Freitas only claim that the English newspaper The Telegraph revealed the existence of a document that cast new doubts about the origins of the pandemic.

According to British news, in 2018, scientists from Wuhan, China, and the United States planned to create a new coronavirus by combining the genetic codes of other viruses. The case came to light from leaked documents in which researchers asked the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for grants. The intention, according to the interpretation of these documents, was to mix genetic data from closely related strains and grow new viruses. The newspaper informs that the proposal was rejected in the same year.

The vehicle also adds that the database with the viral strains studied before the pandemic in Wuhan was taken offline after the pandemic, making it impossible to verify which viruses the team was working on and whether any were created. Finally, he points out that scientists consistently deny the creation of Sars-CoV-2 in the laboratory.

TV Record, in turn, reproduces this information and adds that China denies that Covid-19 emerged from the Wuhan laboratory, that the WHO published an inconclusive report on the subject and the American government is still investigating the emergence of the virus. .

Origin defined?

Since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, scientists have been trying to identify how Sars-CoV-2 emerged. The origin, however, has not yet been proven.

In March of this year, when the pandemic completed three years, the World Health Organization reported that it had required the United States and other countries to share information that could be useful in investigating the origin of the disease.

The position took place after The Wall Street Journal reported, on February 26, that a classified report by the US Department of Energy attributed the origin of the pandemic to an accidental leak at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan.

To the newspaper, sources from the agency supported the thesis based on new intelligence information, academic studies and consultations with specialists, but considered that the report itself claims to have “low confidence” in the conclusion presented, which means that the information does not allow carrying out a final judgment.

In February, Tedros Adhanom pledged to do everything possible to have a final answer and said he had sent an official email to the highest levels of the Chinese government, again requesting Beijing’s collaboration.

The theory that there was a leak competes with another hypothesis, popularized in February 2021, when an interdisciplinary team of experts led by the WHO and accompanied by Chinese people spent two weeks in the Asian country and published a joint report on the transmission of the virus to humans by an animal, possibly at a market in Wuhan.

Recently, The New York Times reported that positive samples for the coronavirus collected in the market were loaded into an international database and released only in 2023. A team of international experts analyzed this genetic content and released a report, on March 20, describing the evidence from the sample and arguing that it strengthens the theory that illegally traded wild animals sparked the coronavirus pandemic. The report was republished by Sheet and covered by Veja.

What the person responsible for the publication says

It was not possible to reach the author of the post, as the Telegram channel does not identify the person responsible, nor does it provide links to other social networks that allow contact.

What can we learn from this check

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a strong misinformation movement on the subject, which encompasses not only the origin of the virus, but also the restrictive measures in the fight against Covid-19 and the development of vaccines against it.

Contents like the one verified here tend to spread prejudice against the population of Asian origin by stating that the virus was spread on purpose after being developed in the laboratory.

The author of the post uses a television report to reinforce the misinformation that is being propagated in the caption, but it is enough to watch the journalistic piece to understand that it does not confirm this hypothesis.

The reader can also use search engines, such as Google, to identify the date the article was aired and thus find out if the news is up-to-date or if the information is out of date.

Likewise, searches can be carried out in professional press vehicles and on the websites of health organizations to access up-to-date data on the pandemic.

why do we investigate

Comprova monitors suspicious content published on social networks and messaging apps about public policies and elections at the federal level and opens investigations for those publications that have achieved greater reach and engagement. You can also suggest checks via WhatsApp +55 11 97045-4984. Suggestions and questions related to questionable content can also be sent to Sheet via WhatsApp 11 99486-0293.

Other checks on the topic

Since 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, Comprova has checked content that accused China of having spread the coronavirus. It has already been demonstrated that the FBI has not confirmed the origin of the virus, that it is misleading that Anthony Fauci’s email proves the origin of the virus in a laboratory and that a sentence said in 2016 by an American researcher does not indicate that the Chinese caused the pandemic.