The WHO visits Wuhan and vaccine scams take over the internet
Welcome to the Infodemic. We are tracking how disinformation surrounding the coronavirus crisis is reshaping our lives. Below are the narratives, both real and fake, that have grabbed our attention and deserve yours.
A World Health Organization delegation is halfway through a long-awaited visit to Wuhan and the city's now-infamous Institute of Virology. Since the pandemic began, the Institute has been the subject of rumors and conspiracy theories linking it to the origins of Covid-19. The visitors grilled the lab’s scientists and, according to Peter Ben Embarek of the WHO’s Beijing office, nothing was off limits. Embarek said members of the group asked “very frank” questions about how the virus began to spread, offering up ideas that would make “excellent scenarios for good movies and series for the years to come.” As part of its strategy to deflect the focus away from China as ground zero for the disease, the country’s Foreign Ministry has called on the WHOto make similar visits to the U.S. and other nations.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students are stuck abroad, unable to go back home for the lunar New Year. But their embassies did treat them to special pandemic care packages. From Malaysia to Mexico, stranded young people are sharing pictures of “Love from the Motherland” goody bags on the Chinese social media site Weibo. A peek inside one given to a student in Ukraine revealed chocolates, masks and Lianhua Qingwen capsules, a traditional medicine that is part of the Communist Party of China’s official Covid-19 treatment plan.
The pandemic has struck another blow against press freedom in Poland, after the announcement of plans for a new tax on media advertising as part of a push to raise funds to cover pandemic costs. The government hopes to raise $213 million from the proposed levy. Officials say the money will also go towards “cultural” aims, such as helping the public“ assess the reliability of information appearing in the media.” The catch: logic dictates that publicly funded media outlets, which are used to promote the narratives of the Law and Justice party-led government, will be hit less hard than private ones. Poland plummeted to its lowest ever position on the World Press Freedom Index last year. This will only make things worse.