A viral image circulating online is falsely advising social media users that gargling water with salt or vinegar “eliminates” the coronavirus. There is currently “no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the new coronavirus,” according to the World Health Organization.
Federal officials have provided confusing and sometimes contradictory statements about the number and availability of tests to diagnose new coronavirus infections. We’ll explain how testing works, what happened with the CDC’s coronavirus test and what’s known about how many tests are available in the U.S.
Online posts claim that vitamin C can “stop” the new coronavirus. While it’s true that vitamin C can have a marginal effect on warding off a cold, there’s no evidence that it can stop or treat the new coronavirus.
Online posts falsely claim the new coronavirus can be cured by drinking one bowl of freshly boiled garlic water. That’s not true; there is no cure for the virus.
Online posts have claimed to reveal various “cures” for the new coronavirus. Some are benign, like eating boiled garlic, while others are potentially dangerous, like drinking chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleach. Neither will cure the virus.
Several online stories inaccurately claim that the new coronavirus contains HIV “insertions” and shows signs of being created in a lab. But there is no evidence that the new virus was bioengineered, and every indication it came from an animal.
Social media posts falsely claim that a “Chinese spy team” working in a Canadian government lab sent “pathogens to the Wuhan facility” prior to the coronavirus outbreak in China. Two Canadian agencies have told us those claims are wrong.