Image of Covid-19 testing kit passed off as vaccine on
social media
If some social media users
are to be believed, American scientists have already developed a cure for
Covid-19. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim
is misleading and the photo being shared is not a vaccine to cure Covid-19, but
a testing kit developed by South Korea.
If some social media users
are to be believed, American scientists have already developed a cure for
Covid-19. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim
is misleading and the photo being shared is not a vaccine to cure Covid-19, but
a testing kit developed by South Korea.
Researchers all over the
world are working to develop a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus that has already
claimed more than 14,000 people and infected over 3 lakh globally. However, if
some social media users are to be believed, American scientists have already
developed a cure for Covid-19.
Facebook user "Tooro
Television" posted a photo of a few sachets on which is written SGTI-flex
COVID-19 IgM/IgG. The claim along with the picture says, "#Great news!
Carona virus vaccine ready. Able to cure the patient within 3 hours after
injection. Hats off to US Scientists. Trump announced that Roche Medical Company
will launch the vaccine next Sunday, and millions of doses are ready from
it!"
Covid-19 testing kit |
This site has shared the news
on Instagram as well as on Twitter. The archived version can be seen here.
India Today Anti Fake News
War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim is misleading and the photo being
shared is not a vaccine to cure Covid-19, but a testing kit developed by South
Korea.
A reverse search of the photo
leads to various news reports which state that South Korean pharma major
Sugentech developed a portable diagnostic kit that could tell if you are tested
positive or negative for coronavirus in just 10 minutes. The viral photo does
have the name Sugentech on the sachets.
According to news reports,
this company is among seven major pharma firms of South Korea which are trying
to get their Covid-19 diagnostic kits authorised by the USA and Europe so they can
export.
Is there a Covid-19 vaccine?
A few days ago, many social
media users claimed that United States President Donald Trump had announced a medical company named Roche will launch a vaccine on one of these Sundays and
millions of doses are ready to fight the Covid-19 outbreak. AFWA has already
debunked this claim.
Scientists around the world
have been working to develop a vaccine against Covid-19 since January 10, the
day scientists in China made public the genetic sequence of the virus online.
But according to media reports, this process will take some time. In the
meantime, medicines to cure Covid-19 are also being researched. As of now, there
is no vaccine that can cure a coronavirus patient in three hours.
Therefore, the viral claim on
social media that the coronavirus vaccine is ready and can cure a patient
within three hours is not true.
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