On June 12, anti-vaxxer Tina Topuria shared a German-language article to her Facebook page and wrote in the comments section that German virologist Christian Drosten was interrogated in the German Parliament. Tina Topuria claimed that Drosten acknowledged that “SARS-COV-2 has never been a pandemic.” Topuria also noted in her post that Drosten questioned the accuracy of tests (it is not specified which particular tests are meant) and stated that the vast majority of COVID-19 cases were mild.
The spread information about Christian Drosten’s virus assessment and testing is manipulative, while the claim as if Drosten says that SARS-COV-2 has never been a pandemic is false. Virologist Christian Drosten has never questioned either the reality of COVID-19 pandemic or effectiveness of tests and their significance for crisis management.
Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten, a famous German virologist and Director of the Institute for Virology at Charité, really attended a hearing of the committee of inquiry at the Landtag of Brandenburg (local legislature) on June 11. The hearing was convened at the request of AfD (Alternative für Deutschland), a German far-right party. The hearing lasted for three hours.
Tina Topuria’s post contradicts the article shared by her. The article itself belongs to German journalist Boris Reitschuster. His colleague attended the hearing at the Landtag of Brandenburg and listened to Drosten who answered the questions from MPs. The article is based on the information provided by this colleague, as well as reports from three local media outlets that covered the hearing.
According to the article, Christian Drosten noted that SARS-COV-1 has never been a pandemic; however, the same was not said about SARS-COV-2, as claimed by Tina Topuria. On the contrary, Christian Drosten opposed the statements that COVID-19 did not cause a pandemic.
Drosten really noted at the hearing that the vast majority of COVID-19 cases were mild. However, he added that even in mild cases, the viral load is so high that there is a great risk of infection. Therefore, quarantine is an important measure for such cases.
Speaking about PCR tests, Drosten noted that there would actually be false test results. He also pointed out that the tests are multi-stage procedures. Thus, the virologist cited doing two tests at the same time as an argument to stress that ultimately, the process of testing is mostly reliable, rather than to claim that the accuracy of tests is unknown, as Tina Topuria notes in her post.
Asked about positive test results and spread of the virus by an infected person, Drosten responded that a positive test result actually means that the person tested is infectious. He added that the viral load is crucial. Drosten also clarified that that patients with a low viral load might have been infectious earlier or would become later. Christian Drosten has never questioned the significance or effectiveness of PCR tests in the process of pandemic management.
Disinformation about Christian Drosten as if the tests developed by him show false-positive results was also spread earlier. See details in Myth Detector’s article:
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