COVID-19 media surveillance - 15 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

• U.S. cases climb toward a third peak
• Brazil reports almost 152,000 deaths with more than 5,1 million cases
• Spain’s new coronavirus alert system shows four regions at ‘extreme risk’ level: Aragón, Castilla y León, Madrid and La Rioja
• France issues curfew, bans weddings amid 'spectacular' rise in cases with more than 30,000 daily cases
• Italy’s cases surge to new daily record above 7,000
• Belgium: only two regions across the EU remain green zones for Belgian travellers from Friday
• Germany sees record daily increase in new cases with 6,648 cases
• Austria: The state of Salzburg is taking further measures - a quarantine came into force in the town of Kuchl
• Luxembourg: Ministry of Health records 214 new cases from 5,938 tests
• Sweden reported 1,075 new cases, but the country’s top epidemiologist said a recent rise in new infections was not the sign of a second wave
• UK: London will move from a Tier 1 "medium" to the Tier 2 "high" alert level of coronavirus restrictions from Saturday morning
• Russia has granted regulatory approval to a second vaccine called EpiVacCorona which hasn’t entered phase III trials yet
• Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed 2,004 new cases, the first day since the lockdown was imposed that daily cases were close to 2,000
• India: Amid the country's cases crossing 7.3 million, movie theaters along with additional activities started in several parts of the country as part of allowing the fifth round of easing the restrictions called Unlock-5.
• New Zealand reported two new imported cases in managed isolation facilities without community transmission
• South Korea’s daily count of new cases returned to a three-digit figure as health authorities warn against social gatherings
• China carried out 4.2 million tests in Qingdao since 12 cases were detected last weekend
• Japan: Tokyo records 284 cases – highest number since August 20th

Twitter

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

• "As Virus Spread, Reports of Trump Administration’s Private Briefings Fueled Sell-Off. A hedge fund consultant’s summary of private presentations by White House economic advisers fanned investor worries." (nytimes)
• "Japan supercomputer shows humidity affects aerosol spread of coronavirus" (reuters)

Lockdown-related hashtags such as #Lockdown2 or #CouvreFeu trended on Twitter.

European Commission President von der Leyen went into self-isolation after a member of her office tested positive (twitter).

The most mentioned English sources were the New York Times, CNN, Breitbart and BBC.

Infobae, El País, RT (Spanish Version) and El Mundo, 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 “reversed” its advice on lockdowns (verafiles).
• Fact checkers debunk a claim that a positive coronavirus test followed by a negative antibody test is proofing that the virus is a lie (reuters).
• A false statement that the UK government is combining data on COVID-19 and the flu was also debunked (reuters).
• Fact checkers debunk Donald Trump’s false claim that COVID-19 is less deadly than the flu (politifact)
• Italian fact checkers debunk a story that three young girls died in Germany after wearing a facemask (poynter).
• A claim that Trump has taken the Russian COVID-19 vaccine is debunked by fact checkers (newschecker).
• Another claim related to the US President on the Simpsons having predicted his death and infection by COVID is also debunked (poynter).
• Fact checkers debunk a social media posts that Uganda has had relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths due to the use of hydroxychloroquine. Instead, it is due to the implemented restrictions, such as the strict lockdown and mandatory masks (factcheck).
• Spanish fact checkers debunk a claim reported also in the main section above that a poorly done PCR test caused a leak of cerebrospinal fluid of a woman by breaking the protective barrier of the brain (poynter).
• Fact checkers debunk social media posts about a vaccine campaign funded by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, including that he has been adding a “sterilization formula” to vaccines for the past decade (factcheck.afp).
• An Instagram post on the influenza vaccine infecting patients with the coronavirus is also debunked (factcheck.afp).
• Fact checkers debunk a video claiming that the pandemic is a hoax created by the media (poynter).

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