COVID-19 media surveillance - 8 October 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

• The WHO reports record one-day increase in global cases, up over 338,000 in 24 hours
• US: cases are rising in 39 states as the New England Journal of Medicine published an editorial titled Dying in a Leadership Vacuum
• India reported a fresh spike of 78,524 cases and 971 deaths in 24 hours
• Brazil's cases pass five million as third country after the US and India
• Spain: Madrid High Court strikes down Health Ministry’s coronavirus restrictions – as a result of the decision, fines cannot be levied on citizens who break the perimeter confinements of 10 cities
• France: Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Lille and Grenoble will face the same restrictions as Paris and Marseille starting Saturday
• Italy: masks made mandatory outdoors across Italy as 4458 new cases were reported, highest level since April
• Belgium: new lockdown measures foreseen if figures don’t decrease within 10-12 days
• Germany reports alarming rise with over 4,000 new cases
• The Netherlands: strong increase in hospital admissions and infections with 5,831 new cases
• Luxembourg registered 97 new cases and 1 death
• Poland: Masks made compulsory outside as cases surge
• Sweden: Critics of Sweden’s lax pandemic policies face fierce backlash
• UK recorded 17,540 cases in 24 hours; more than 80 percent of people do not respect self-isolation if they show symptoms or come in contact with an infected person, according to a study by King’s College.
• Russia on Thursday reported 11,463 new cases and 191 fatalities, highest daily number since May
• Israel reported over 4,000 new cases amid total lockdown
• New Zealand reports two new cases, all in managed isolation, with no new cases in the community
• South Korea’s cases fall back to double digits while a potential spike remains worrisome after a long holiday.
• China has promised vaccines to many countries, but whether it can meet its commitments is unclear
• Japan to exempt business travelers and returnees from 14-day quarantine

Twitter

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

• "White House Blocks New Coronavirus Vaccine Guidelines. The F.D.A. proposed stricter guidelines for emergency approval of a coronavirus vaccine, but the White House chief of staff objected to provisions that would push approval past Election Day" (nytimes)
• "Researchers identify pink eye as possible primary symptom of COVID-19" (ophthamologytimes)
• "After Donald Trump's deranged balcony address, we're all gasping together" (theguardian)
• "In a few days, more people in Trump’s orbit tested positive for coronavirus than in all of Taiwan" (washingtonpost)
• "Senior Pentagon leadership quarantining after exposure to coronavirus" (cnn)
• "34 people connected to White House, more than previously known, infected by coronavirus: Internal FEMA memo" (abcnews)
• "Scientists warn of ‘overwhelming’ evidence of airborne coronavirus contagion" (elpais)
• "Facebook, Twitter block Trump post that falsely claims coronavirus is less deadly than flu" (cnbc)

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

ABC, El País, El Diario, and Infobae, and Le Monde and Le Parisien were among the most mentioned Spanish and French sources, respectively.

Fact Check

• Fact checkers debunk a video claiming that the WHO has stated that COVID-19 has a lower fatality rate than a seasonal flu virus (maldita).
• Fact checkers debunk several claims by French MP Martine Wonner, including that the coronavirus has lost its virulence, that the US CDC has confirmed that masks "are useless" and that Belgium "will re-authorise treatment with azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine from next week" proving that it is not true that there is no treatment for COVID-19 (afpfactuel).
• Fact checkers debunk an image in which a medical professional holds up a sign in Spanish claiming that flu shots are the cause of the so-called COVID-19 deaths and masks are harmful to one’s health. Fact checkers report that the image has been photoshopped (maldita).
• Fact checkers debunk claims that Paraguay will buy vaccines produced by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, whose development was prohibited in the United States by Donald Trump, and will let Paraguayans be used as guinea pigs (afpfactual).
• Brazilian fact checkers debunk a social media post claiming that the coronavirus has not killed any politicians and it is “corrupt”, reporting that 17 Brazilian politicians have died of COVID-19 (aosfatos).
• Fact checkers debunk a German-language video claiming that 5G radiation is harmful to human health and causes symptoms that are incorrectly attributed to COVID-19. The video has been viewed more than

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