Last Updated on September 14, 2023 by Aditi Gangal
Quick Take
Several social media posts claim that the rise of new Covid-19 variants has suddenly stopped. We fact-checked and found the claim to be False. Our research shows that new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been found in recent months.
The Claim
Social media posts on Twitter and Instagram claim that there have been no new COVID-19 variants in recent times.
The Instagram post has received 11,843 likes till we last checked.
Screenshot of the Instagram post:
The Twitter post has received 49.4K views, 161 retweets, 17 quotes, and 1,232 likes till we last checked.
Fact Check
What are COVID-19 variants?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website explains ‘variant’ as a virus-causing genetic material that has undergone at least one mutation from a previous version.
Are new variants of COVID-19 no longer being found?
No evidence confirms that new variants of COVID-19 are no longer found. We researched and found multiple sources that show COVID-19 is real and new variants have been found in recent months.
The website of the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data globally has listed new variants in more than 80 countries since April.
The CDC website informs that XBB.1.5 variant has been prevalent since April. While the World Health Organization website informs that XBB.1.16 variant is responsible for a growing number of cases in India.
The COVID-19 variants pose a significant risk to human health. That being the case, the White House on April 10 announced a $5 billion effort to invent better vaccines and treatment.
Besides this, we even found an Instagram post where the claimant shared the claimed Twitter post saying that the ‘claim is misinformation’.
This is not the first time we have found misinformation or disinformation around COVID-19 or its vaccine. THIP MEDIA has previously debunked Covid vaccine released as a depopulation measure.