COVID-19 media surveillance - 10 December 2020

This media surveillance collects articles reported through publicly available web sites.

It is created with the Europe Media Monitor (EMM).

The selection and placement of stories are determined automatically by a computer program.

Headlines

• US: FDA will scrutinize allergic reactions to Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in UK before clearing use in U.S as country records new high of 3000 deaths in single day
• India is focusing on affordable Covid-19 vaccines instead of expensive messenger RNA vaccines
• Brazil: Pfizer says it could vaccinate a 'couple of million' Brazilians in first quarter
• Spain changes Covid-19 test requirements for air travelers while Canary Islands will let foreign visitors enter with an antigen test
• France imposes 8 pm curfew from 15 December and delays planned reopening of theatres
• Italy reported 887 new deaths on Thursday, a steep rise from 499 the day before
• Germany: Angela Merkel backs tougher virus curbs as German deaths hit record; domestic intelligence service put the “Querdenken 711” group on a watch-list due to its increasing radicalisation
• Europol warned that counterfeit vaccine versions are already starting to circulate on the dark web
• Belgium to reimpose compulsory quarantine for travellers from COVID-19 high-risk countries

• Luxembourg extends lockdown until 15 January
• Switzerland: photo of crowds queuing at Swiss ski lift sparks outrage
• UK: travel from UK to EU banned from 1 January under Covid-Brexit rules; UK reported 20,964 new cases, highest since mid-November
• Russia’s regions hit hard by second wave as 59 percent of Russians say they have no intention of getting a shot
• New Zealand reported three new cases in managed isolation
• South Korea will expand anonymous COVID-19 testing and enable anyone to be tested for the virus regardless of symptoms as the country struggles to flatten the curve
• Japan will buy 10,500 deep freezers to store novel coronavirus vaccines and is considering purchasing dry ice in bulk as third wave hits Japan

Twitter

The following news were found among the most mentioned/retweeted items:

• "As China nears a coronavirus vaccine, bribery cloud hangs over drugmaker Sinovac" (washingtonpost)
• "Infected after 5 minutes, from 20 feet away: South Korea study shows coronavirus’ spread indoors" (latimes)
• "Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered months ago to sell the U.S. more vaccine doses" (nytimes)
• "Regulatory documents for Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, have ‘been unlawfully accessed’ as part of a cyberattack against the European Medicines Agency" (biontech)

The most mentioned English sources were the New York Times, CNN, Yahoo News, the Washington Post and AP News.

ABC, El Diario, El Pais, Infobae and RT (Spanish Version), and Le Monde and Le Parisien were among the most mentioned Spanish and French sources, respectively.

Fact Check

• German fact checkers debunk a statement by doctor and AfD politician Hans-Ulrich Mayr, claiming that “proof” has been provided that there is “no corona pandemic” and that PCR tests have “no informative value about the infection or disease” (correctiv).
• German fact checkers also address a graph circulating on social media, which claims to show that flu deaths are generally higher than COVID-19 deaths have been in 2020, reporting that the graph is not considering some relevant data (correctiv).
• Italian fact checkers address Italia Viva politician Luigi Marattin’s claim that COVID-19 death figures also include asymptomatic carriers who have died from other causes, reporting that being positive for coronavirus is not enough to be counted as a COVID-19 death, but it is also necessary to have a clinical picture compatible with and various symptoms caused by COVID-19 (pagellapolitica).
• Fact checkers debunk claims that a COVID-19 cure was discovered in Tunisia (afpfactuel).
• Fact checkers debunk a video in which an array of self-proclaimed doctors, nurses, other medical practitioners and journalists claim that there is no SARS-Cov-2 virus, no COVID-19 pandemic, no safe vaccine and no need for one (leadstories). The video has been banned by YouTube and Facebook.
• Fact checkers debunk claims that “airplanes spray COVID-19 in the air, which can be seen via the cloudy chemtrails they leave in the sky” (misbar).

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Contact

Mail to JRC-EMM-SUPPORTec [dot] europa [dot] eu (subject: COVID-19%20media%20surveillance) (JRC-EMM-SUPPORT[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

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