Fact Check: Neither the people in the video are WHO representatives nor are the claims made by them true

New Delhi (Vishvas News): A viral post on Twitter claims that WHO has taken a U-turn and now says that Coronavirus-infected patients neither needs to be isolated, nor quarantined, nor needs social distancing. It further claims that the infected people cannot even transmit virus from one patient to another. Vishvas News investigated and found that the viral post is falsely attributed to WHO and the claims are misleading.

Claim

The video shared on Twitter by a user named Parvez claims: “WHO has taken a U-turn and now says that Coronavirus-infected patients neither needs to be isolated, nor quarantined, nor needs social distancing. It further claims that the infected people cannot even transmit virus from one patient to another.”

The archived version of the post can be checked here.

Investigation

A viral video with unsubstantiated claims is attributed to World Health Organization (WHO). When Vishvas News investigated the doctors in the video we found that they do not belong to WHO. Using the INVID tool, we performed a Google Reverse Image Search of the screengrabs and found that the people shown in the video are a group of healthcare professionals who call themselves the World Doctors Alliance. Here is the original video.

Vishvas News contacted the technical officer from WHO and she refuted the claims. As per her, the video is falsely attributed to WHO, they haven’t made any such claims.

Let us debunk the claims in the post one by one:

Coronavirus patients neither need to be quarantined, nor isolated, nor needs social distancing

According to Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention (CDC), quarantine is used to keep someone who might have been exposed to COVID-19 away from others. Quarantine helps prevent spread of disease that can occur before a person knows they are sick or if they are infected with the virus without feeling symptoms. People in quarantine should stay home, separate themselves from others, monitor their health, and follow directions from their state or local health department.

Also, CDC suggests, Social distancing should be practiced in combination with other everyday preventive actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19, including wearing masks, avoiding touching your face with unwashed hands, and frequently washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Coronavirus-infected people cannot transmit the viral from one person to another

Vishvas News had debunked a similar claim earlier. Its complete fact check can be read here.

90% of the so-called cases are false positives, so there are no sick people

False Covid-19 test results are problematic, but false positives can have serious consequences as well. But there are no reports that state that 90% of the coronavirus cases are false positives.

A study published in British medical journal Lancet suggests that in the UK, RT-PCR presented false positive results in the 0.8 to 4% range, while false negatives could run as high as 33%.

86% of positive cases have no symptoms

As per a report in Reuters, people who were asymptomatic accounted for 86% of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 in a UK sample population during lockdown. The pilot study sampled 36,061 people living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who were tested between April 26 and June 27.

Of the 115 with a positive result, only 16 reported symptoms, with 99 not reporting any specific symptoms on the day of the test. Moreover, 142 people who reported symptoms on the day of the test did not test positive for COVID-19, vastly outnumbering those who tested positive.

As per the result of the survey, this claim holds true for UK but it isn’t confirmed for other countries.

The post is shared on Twitter by a user named Parvez. When Vishvas News scanned the profile of the user we found that the user profile is created in July 2020 and is followed by 3 people.

Conclusion

Vishvas News investigated and found that the viral post is falsely attributed to WHO and the claims are misleading.

Disclaimer: The #CoronavirusFacts database records fact-checks published since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic and its consequences are constantly evolving and data that was accurate weeks or even days ago might have changed. Remember to check the date when the fact-check you are reading was published before sharing it.