Diesel cars are a major source of NO2 emissions in European cities, contrary to online claim

CLAIM
The drop in NO2 content has only been “slight”. So it cannot be the evil diesel engine cars that are “choking” our cities.

SOURCE: Holger Douglas, Tichys Einblick

Published: 02 May 2020

VERDICT

Claim that hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin improves COVID-19 recovery is unsupported at this stage

CLAIM
By administering hydroxychloroquine combined with azithromycin, they were able to observe an improvement in all cases, except in one patient

SOURCE: Anonymous, Tech Startups

Published: 01 May 2020

VERDICT

Little to no evidence that smoking protects against COVID-19; may increase risk of complications instead

CLAIM
smoking may protect against COVID-19

SOURCE: Christopher Snowdon, Spiked

Published: 29 Apr 2020

VERDICT

The number of flu cases and deaths in 2020 is comparable to previous years

CLAIM
there are ZERO flu deaths and ZERO pneumonia deaths for the first time in history

SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook

Published: 28 Apr 2020

VERDICT

Volunteer for U.K. COVID-19 vaccine trial Elisa Granato is alive, contrary to claim in viral article

CLAIM
Elisa Granato, the first volunteer who availed herself in Oxford for a jab in the first Europe human trial of a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus pandemic has died.

SOURCE: James Alami, News NT

Published: 27 Apr 2020

VERDICT

Claim that CO2 is cooling the planet is misleading, anthropogenic CO2 emissions overall cause global warming

CLAIM
Global warming slowing down? 'Ironic' study finds more CO2 has slightly cooled the planet

SOURCE: Sebastian Kettley, Express

Published: 24 Apr 2020

VERDICT

Eating alkaline food cannot prevent or cure COVID-19

CLAIM
The pH for the coronavirus varies from 5.5 to 8.5. What we need to do to defeat the coronavirus is to consume more alkaline foods above the virus’ pH level.

SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook

Published: 22 Apr 2020

VERDICT

Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier inaccurately claims that the novel coronavirus is man-made and contains genetic material from HIV

CLAIM
this coronavirus genome contained sequences of another virus […] the HIV virus (AIDS virus)

SOURCE: Luc Montagnier, Gilmore Health News, Zero Hedge

Published: 20 Apr 2020

VERDICT

Human activities have dramatically increased atmospheric CO2 levels, causing imbalances in the global carbon cycle

CLAIM
Human additions of CO2 are in the margin of error of current measurements and the gradual increase in CO2 is mainly from oceans degassing as the planet slowly emerges from the last ice age.

SOURCE: Cole Ryan, I Love Carbon Dioxide

Published: 20 Apr 2020

VERDICT

Human-induced increases in greenhouse gases are the primary driver of global warming, contrary to claims in CFACT article

CLAIM
They tell us that we are the primary forces controlling earth temperatures by the burning of fossil fuels and releasing their carbon dioxide. I hope my readers can recognize the absurdity of their claims. … increasing sunspots are linked to increases in earth temperature

SOURCE: Jay Lehr, CFACT

Published: 15 Apr 2020

VERDICT