COVID-19 media surveillance - 6 July 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

• USA: President Trump falsely claims ‘99 Percent’ of virus cases are ‘totally harmless’; as states pause reopenings, experts warn of more confusion, isolation, agitation
• Brazil has surpassed 1.6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and is nearing 65,000 deaths
• UK: one in five infections at peak were among hospital staff
• Spain: final round of coronavirus study confirms that 5.2% of Spanish population has antibodies
• Ireland: No new Covid-19 deaths, but 18 new cases reported
• Sweden told to prepare for second wave of coronavirus
• Belgium’s Foreign Ministry has changed its travel advice for Spain from green to orange following the lockdown in Lérida
• Luxembourg: Coronavirus continues spread with 75 new cases in weekend
• Israel reimposes restrictions after spike in infections
• Iraq sees massive surge in coronavirus cases
• India overtakes Russia in Covid-19 cases with more than 24,000 new cases in 24 hours
• Australia to seal off 6.6 million people in virus-hit state of Victoria as outbreak worsens
• South Korea: Coronavirus spreading now in Korea has its origin in Europe and the US
• Japan: Tokyo marks 102 cases with fifth straight day exceeding 100 cases
• China: authorities in China have stepped up precautions after a city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region confirmed one case of bubonic plague

Twitter

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

• "239 Experts With One Big Claim: The Coronavirus Is Airborne. The W.H.O. has resisted mounting evidence that viral particles floating indoors are infectious, some scientists say. The agency maintains the research is still inconclusive" (nytimes)
• "After coronavirus, Lisbon is replacing some Airbnbs and turning holiday rentals into homes for key workers" (independent)
• "Mexico underestimates the number of deaths from Covid, which could be 3.5 times higher according to Financial Times" (latinus)
• "FDA commissioner refuses to defend Trump claim that 99% of Covid-19 cases are 'harmless'" (cnn)
• "Evidence growing that Houston's main coronavirus strain is more contagious than original" (houstonchronicle)

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

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

Extracted Quotes

Donald K Milton (USA, Professor at University of Maryland):
" Most public health organizations, including the World Health Organization, do not recognize airborne transmission except for aerosol-generating procedures performed in healthcare settings. Hand washing and social distancing are appropriate, but in our view, insufficient to provide protection from virus-carrying respiratory microdroplets released into the air by infected people". (clinicalinfectiousdiseases)

Fact Check

Fact checked: health-related claims

• Fact checkers debunk claims that wearing a face mask is dangerous because “it makes the blood acidic” and thus “weakens the immune system” (estadaoverifica).

Fact checked: anti-vax claims

• Fact checkers debunk claims that the coronavirus will disappear on its own and it is, therefore, not necessary to get vaccinated against it, citing an Italian infectious disease doctor who did, indeed, state that the coronavirus has become less dangerous and could disappear on its own without a vaccine. Fact checkers remark that Italian public health officials and the WHO warn there is no evidence to support these claims (stopfake).

Fact checked: conspiracy theories

• Fact checkers debunk claims that a video claiming to show the burial of COVID-19 victims is fake and the coronavirus is a hoax, reporting that the video actually shows the burial of COVID-19 victims at a São Paulo cemetery in Brazil (afpfakty).
• Similarly, Italian fact checkers debunk claims that TV news channels have shown fake video footage when they claimed to share footage of the coffins of COVID-19 victims from Bergamo (facta).

Download PDF

Contact

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

Related Content

Europe Media Monitor (EMM)

Medical Information System - MEDISYS

JRC COVID-19 survey - have your say