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FACT BRIEF

Did scientists fraudulently claim they had isolated and sequenced viruses including the one causing COVID-19?

By Jennifer Dobner
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NO

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been independently isolated and sequenced by multiple scientists around the world since January 2020.

Claims that the virus has never been isolated have circulated since vaccines for COVID-19 were introduced in early 2020, including in an 11-minute video circulating online in early 2022. 

Chinese scientists were the first to identify the existence of a new, or novel, coronavirus in mid-December of 2019. They reported the discovery to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31, 2019.

By Jan. 10, 2020, they had isolated the virus and publicly shared its complete genome for use by scientists around the world for research and vaccine development. Multiple examples of this have been published, including in the Journal of Virology and Science Daily, and by the CDC.

Images of the virus have also been shared by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases and the CDC.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe WHO-COVID-19 Virus Identification
National Institutes of Health New Images of Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Now Available
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.