Iran

Was the coronavirus biologically engineered to be a bioweapon as one University of Illinois law professor claims? No that claim is misleading: Prof. Fancis Boyle said in a video interview with "Outside the Box" host Jason Liosatos that one study offers "smoking gun" evidence that COVID-19 was designed to be a weapon. Boyle, who practices law and not virology, cites…

Did 5G, the fifth-generation wireless technology, cause the novel coronavirus? No, that's not true: These bizarre assertions go against everything we know about how viruses are spread. A viral video making the rounds confuses historical events, while ignoring others, to make a sweeping claim that is not backed up by evidence. The claim appeared in a post published on YouTube…

Did a story about the grave threat posed by the new coronavirus overstate the threat? No, it didn't. It may sound grim, but it's backed by science, according to medical experts. The story, which has gone viral on social media, appeared in an article published by Tomas Pueyo on Medium on March 10, 2020, titled "Coronavirus: Act Today or People…

Did a former and controversial CIA officer say coronavirus was definitively produced in a lab? No, an Iranian news website selectively quoted as fact what was only speculation from the former CIA agent helping run a site associated with Russian disinformation campaigns. The claim originated in an article published by Tehran-based Press TV on March 6, 2020, titled "Coronavirus was…

Is the U.S. presidential election canceled due to the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, allowing President Trump to remain in office for four more years? No, that's not true: Obviously, the meme is a joke. However, concerns over congregating in large public places to curb the spread of the coronavirus have prompted some legitimate questions about the outbreak's impact on the…

Did Tanzania and Zambia confirm their first cases of novel coronavirus? No, that's not true: These made-up stories were published by a website known to spread disinformation. According to the World Health Organization, neither African country had recorded any cases of the rapidly spreading global virus as of March 7, 2020. The claims that the first cases of coronavirus had…

Did Delores Aveiro, the mother of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, experience a fatal second stroke days after being admitted to the hospital after she experienced an initial stroke? No, that's not true. This story originates from a website with a history of publishing fake news. Delores Aviero did suffer a stroke on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, and she is recovering in…

Did a report state that the novel coronavirus had killed 200 in Iran? No, that's not true: The number of deaths in official reports on March 3, 2020, were much lower than stated in this article. The claim that inflated the numbers - purporting to show the most recent news about the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran - originated from an…

Monte Plott is a Senior Editor with Lead Stories and has previously been a reporter and editor with The Associated Press, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA Today and the Atlanta Journal- Constitution. Most recently, he was a news editor with CNN Digital News for more than a decade. He has taught journalism at four universities from Emory and Georgia State…

Do doctors recommend carbon filter face masks to prevent Coronavirus? No, this is misleading. Videos falsely claims that doctors are recommending carbon filter masks as a way to protect families, although the FDA and CDC both concluded that they are not effective for children and are not recommended for home use. The videos are used to sell the masks to…