When panic due to ignorance spreads faster than a virus.
When emotional issues dominate the headlines, one thing can be certain: there will always be certain people who hijack these issues with ill intentions. This has been the case in recent weeks with the fire in the Krefeld Zoo, with the fires in Australia and now with discussions about the new coronavirus.
Update January 31, 2020: The World Health Organization has now declared a health emergency of international concern. As of January 30, 2020, the virus reached 317 new cases, which the authorities in the severely affected province of Hubei in central China reported on Thursday, bringing the total worldwide to more than 8,100. In order to always keep an eye on the current facts about the coronavirus, we recommend We use the Robert Koch Institute website as a source of information ( HERE ).
Continue in the original text, which exclusively deals with the false reports about the coronavirus. This is about the uncertainty that is intentionally spread by some sites, YouTubers and users, and is by no means about clarification or “the truth”! Many theories are so far-fetched that one has to seriously question why they are even taken at face value.
But why are false reports about the new coronavirus spreading so much more than information about it? Would people rather panic? Or isn't it more of a deeper need to have a certain order in a world full of chaos and chance, an explanation for everything that cannot be explained!
“And when do you feel more powerless and less influential than in the face of a possible viral epidemic? With conspiracy stories, “helpless people seem to make themselves the masters of circumstances of which they are not the master,” wrote the historian Dieter Groh in the 1990s.”
explains Bernd Harder from the GWUP .
[mk_ad]
Panic is not good. Panic has never been a good advisor, nor is it now.
Below you will find all of our previous articles about various claims regarding the new coronavirus. We hope that this gives you a better overview and that you can reassure family, friends and acquaintances who were unsettled by scaremongering.
What you need to know about the coronavirus
Many articles about the coronavirus are from reputable sites, such as the WHO, but some come from self-proclaimed “scientists” who make something up and use this false information to unsettle a lot of people and spread panic. This is, among other things, one reason why we looked at the coronavirus on a factual level.
The patent on the coronavirus
Using Google you can find several patents on coronaviruses.
There is also a reason for this, because the coronavirus does not exist. Coronaviruses are a whole family, the newest one in China is called 2019-cNoV. No patent will be found for the new virus (yet), because the patents relate to weakened variants of known coronaviruses that trigger SARS or MERS, for example. Those variants are needed to develop vaccinations and were therefore given a patent number.
The coronavirus video from “Odysseus”
The 10-minute long video was uploaded to Facebook and YouTube by several sites and users, and it is also shared on WhatsApp.
What the videos always have in common is the “Ulysses Canal” fade-in at the beginning. The creator strings together a lot of false claims, speculations and assumptions in the video, but claims that this is “insider information”. Ultimately, the video is pure scaremongering without any real, factual background.
[mk_ad]
The spread of the new coronavirus through bat soup
The coronavirus outbreak is linked to a video of a Chinese woman eating a bat.
However, the video is from 2016 and wasn't even made in China, where bats aren't even a delicacy. It is still unclear whether the carriers are bats or snakes.
Bill Gates and his foundation are behind the virus
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation financed the development of the coronavirus.
The Pirbright Institute, which is financed by this foundation as the main sponsor, applied for a patent on the virus in 2015. However, it is about the patent for a weakened version of an avian coronavirus that can serve as a basis for vaccinations (see also above: “Patent on the coronavirus”).
Fake videos & manipulative reporting
Whenever someone claims that the real truth has been secretly leaked to them and that the press (whoever "the press" is in this context) is collectively hiding something, and the person himself does not provide sources, only allegations, one should be skeptical and cautious.
Article image: Shutterstock / By B.Zhou
If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:
📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.
Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!
* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

