Infodemic: Doctors protest in Iran and Russia; coronavirus confusion in Mexico
Welcome to the Infodemic. We are tracking how global disinformation shapes the world emerging from the Covid-19 lockdown. Today — from doctors’ protests in Iran to coronavirus confusion in Mexico — here are a few narratives, both real and fake, that have caught our attention and deserve yours.
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People who believe conspiracy theories about Covid-19 are more likely to have broken key lockdown rules, finds a new study from King’s College London. For example, 38% of those who think there is no hard evidence that Covid-19 really exists have had family and friends visit them at home, compared with 12% of those who take the disease seriously. The study also states that those who believe conspiracy theories are more likely to get their information from social media.
Overwhelmed hospital staff in Iran’s southwestern city of Ahvaz staged a walkout to shame members of the public into wearing masks. Dressed in hazmat suits, the doctors walked through the local market calling on people to start taking Covid-19 seriously. Iran is not the only place where doctors are resorting to protest. Our Russia editor Katerina Fomina was in Novosibirsk, Siberia, this weekend, where she says that almost everything has reopened, even though doctors say they are overwhelmed. In June, 30% of staff at the city’s Hospital No. 3, which has been given over entirely to coronavirus patients, took vacation and sick leave in protest over the hospital’s lack of medicines and protective equipment. Both Russia and Iran are recording some of their highest death numbers since the pandemic began, each averaging around 170 a day.
Two Brazilian doctors have falsely claimed on YouTube that a deworming drug has been used to bring Covid-19 under control in Africa. Videos by Alvaro Galvão and Rafael Freitas, which have attracted a total of 336,175 views, were debunked by the fact-checking agency Comprova. We’ve reported on the enthusiastic adoption of ivermectin as a prophylactic against the coronavirus by Brazilian politicians. Much of the scientific support for the treatment seems to originate in a since-withdrawn preprint by US company Surgisphere, which was also responsible for the unreliable data behind The Lancet’s hydroxychloroquine scandal.