Covid fake news: Beware of this misleading WhatsApp message about XBB variant

The Ministry of Health has debunked a particular message about Covid XBB variant. While sharing the seemingly-detailed information about the latest coronavirus variant, the health ministry has called the same as “fake” and “misleading”. Let’s take a look at what the said message says.

The messages warns everyone about the Covid variant and lists out a number of symptoms:

“Everyone is advised to wear a mask because the new variant of the COVID-Omicron XBB coronavirus is different, deadly and not easy to detect correctly,” it says.

As per the message there is no cough or fever, and a limited number of people will have joint pain, headache, pain in the neck and upper back pain. Some may also have pneumonia, and there is usually no appetite - the message says.

COVID-Omicron XBB is five times more virulent than other variants and has a higher mortality rate, it says.”It takes less time for the condition to reach extreme severity and sometimes there are no obvious symptoms. Let's be more careful!” the message says. “This strain of the virus is not found in the nasopharyngeal region and directly affects the lungs for a relatively short period of time.”

Several Covid-Omicron XBB patients were labelled as afebrile and pain-free, but x-rays revealed moderate chest pneumonia. Covid-Omicron XEB nasal swab tests frequently come back negative, and false negative nasopharyngeal tests are becoming more common, says the message.

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“This means that the virus can spread in the community and directly infect the lungs, causing viral pneumonia, which in turn causes acute respiratory distress. This explains why the Covid-Omicron XBB has become something very contagious, highly virulent and lethal,” the message further says.

The message advises people to “avoid crowded places, keep a distance of 1.5 m even in open spaces, wear a double-layer mask, wear a suitable mask, wash hands frequently, even if everyone is asymptomatic (no coughing or sneezing)”.

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The latest wave of Covid-19 is more lethal than the second wave. Therefore, people must exercise extreme vigilance and take numerous additional steps to protect themselves against the coronavirus, the message advises.