00:04Welcome to The Cube, Euronews fact-checking show.
00:07You might have seen this map on social media,
00:09which allegedly shows widespread cases of the Andes antivirus variant,
00:13following the outbreak which occurred on board the MV Hondius cruise ship.
00:18Screenshots and video capture of the map have been shared with captions
00:21suggesting that the virus is spreading rapidly.
00:24If we take a closer look at the map,
00:26here we can see that many countries in Europe and North America
00:30are colored red and orange and contain a large number of red nodes
00:34suggesting widespread antivirus cases.
00:37In reality, this map does not show the number of confirmed antivirus cases
00:41contrary to social media claims.
00:44The map actually comes from a website called antivirusmap.com
00:48which contains a clear disclaimer at the top saying that it shows new signals,
00:52not confirmed cases.
00:54Clicking on the nodes brings up a list of news reports about the virus in general
00:58rather than official cases.
01:00The disclaimer also provides data from the World Health Organization
01:04about confirmed and suspected cases, as well as deaths.
01:08It states that the risk of the virus to the general public is low.
01:12According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control,
01:15as of the 24th of May, there are 12 cases,
01:18including 10 confirmed and 2 probable cases.
01:21Three people have died since the outbreak,
01:23all of whom were passengers on the ship.
01:26Antivirus is typically spread when humans come into contact
01:29with infected rodent urinary droppings,
01:32although the Andes variant is the only one known to spread between people,
01:36usually through prolonged close contact with symptomatic individuals.
01:40The WHO maintains that the risk of the virus to the global population remains low
01:45as it continues to monitor the situation.
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