Disinfo: Coronavirus is safe because it only kills old people

Summary

COVID-19 is a great virus. Children almost do not get sick, and the average age of the victims is 79.5 years.

Disproof

Regular disinformation about the coronavirus. WHO advises people of all ages to take steps to protect themselves from the virus, for example by following good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene. People of all ages can be infected by the new coronavirus. Graham Roberts, an honorary consultant paediatrician at the University of Southampton, explains: "Children (with COVID-19) are predominantly affected in their upper airways (nose, mouths, and throats) so they get cold-like features rather than the virus managing to access their lower airways, ie lungs, and giving the pneumonia and life-threatening Sars picture that we see with adult patients." The proportion of infected children who went on to develop severe or critical COVID-19 illnesses with breathlessness, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and shock was much lower (6%) than among Chinese adults (19%) – especially older adults with chronic cardiovascular or respiratory conditions. However, there are still cases of children dying from COVID-19. For example, on April 4, a five-year-old child in the UK with underlying health conditions passed away.

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Rosbalt (Archived)
riafan.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 194
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 16/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia
  • Keywords: coronavirus
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Disinfo: Jews dominate Hollywood

Weaponizing one point of view inevitably limits the ability of contrary views to be heard. The downside is, of course, that the frenzy that has resulted in the criminalization of free expression relating in any but a positive way to the activity of Jewish groups. It has also included the acceptance of the dishonest definition that any criticism of Israel is ipso facto anti-Semitism, giving that nation a carte blanche in terms of its brutal treatment of its neighbors and even of its non-Jewish citizens.

Jewish dominated Hollywood and the entertainment media have helped to create the anti-Semitism frenzy and continue to give the public regular doses of the holocaust story.

Apr 15, 2020
Disproof

The suggestion that "Hollywood is dominated by Jews" is a traditional anti-Semitic trope. EUvsDisinfo has reported on the connections between pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets and the spread of anti-Semitic narratives.

Disinfo: NATO instructors prepare Ukraine's military to become war criminals

NATO instructors prepare Ukraine’s military to become war criminals. Training events for the Ukrainian Armed Forces by instructors from Norway and Sweden contribute to the spread of lawlessness, violence and the continuation of hostilities in Donbas. As a result of war crimes, prepared by NATO instructors while training Ukrainian security officials, 119 children died and 310 were injured in Donbas. News Front publishes “a list” with personal data of individual military instructors from Sweden and Norway, who were directly involved in the training of war criminals in Ukraine.

Apr 15, 2020
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about foreign military instructors in Ukraine. The claims of war crimes are false and not confirmed by OSCE SMM reports or any other reputable source. The "list" of Swedish and Norwegian instructors comes from a Telegram channel in the Russian language, that has about 9,000 followers. Even before the outbreak of hostilities with Russia in 2014, Ukraine had looked to strengthen its ties with the NATO military alliance. While the alliance’s response to the conflict has been understandably cautious, there has also been significant progress in the relationship with Kyiv. Institutional cooperation has intensified, and a number of individual NATO member states have sent military missions to Ukraine to provide training and support for the country’s transition towards NATO standards. Consultations and cooperation between NATO and Ukraine cover a wide range of areas including peace-support operations, defence and security sector reform, military-to-military cooperation, defence technology, interoperability and industry, civil preparedness, science and environment, and public diplomacy. Read similar cases: "US and British instructors teach Ukrainians how to carry out acts of terror", "Canadian military trains Ukrainian snipers and miners to kill Donbas residents", "Foreign military instructors are preparing five battalions of Ukrainians who are almost nationalists, the aim is to attack Donbas."

Disinfo: COVID-19: Progressive Sweden sacrifices its old and improve its pension funds

The scientists are blowing the whistles, demanding any kind of actions to curb the epidemic, but the government is not reacting much. The experiment goes on, and people continue dying. Most of them already have health issues and some are old. It looks as if this most progressive state has decided to sacrifice its old, and at the same time improve its pension funds for the case of a “collective immunity”.

Apr 15, 2020
Disproof

An unfounded coronavirus conspiracy theory. The Swedish Public Health Authority's highest priority is to protect the public. It has declared that an ‘extraordinary situation’ exists in Sweden. New protective measures are designed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, protect people at especially high risk, and assure the provision of care and therapeutic products to the public. In Sweden, as in most EU countries, there are strict regulations for educational institutions, mass events were cancelled. The population is strongly advised to stay in quarantine and observe good hygiene practices. Sweden has temporarily banned travel to the EU via Sweden. The current entry ban does not affect travel from another EU country to Sweden, nor does it apply to Swedish citizens. See details here. A site with FAQ on Sweden's response to the COVID-19 outbreak from the Swedish Public Health Authority