A viral message claiming Singapore conducted an autopsy on a COVID-19 patient to find the actual cause, is fake. The message was earlier viral claiming Russia and Italy had conducted such autopsies.
The Singapore Ministry of Health also issued a statement calling the message fake and saying that they have not conducted such an autopsy.
BOOM debunked this message when it was circulating as Italy. The message claims that blood clotting and not respiratory issues are the primary reason for the death of patients and that SARS-CoV-2 is a bacterium instead of a virus. The message also claimed that Singapore has broken WHO's COVID protocol.
BOOM received this message on its WhatsApp helpline for verifying the veracity behind this statement.
Several people have shared the same post on Facebook too.
Fact Check
Singapore's Ministry of Health issued a statement on Facebook saying the message was false and that the department had not conducted any such procedure.
BOOM had earlier spoken to doctors who stated that thrombosis- that is blood clotting has been witnessed in several cases but is not the leading cause of COVID-19 deaths.
Studies from Ireland, US, Netherlands, France and Italy have highlighted that thrombosis could be a significant contributor to COVID-19 deaths. These studies, however, do not say thrombosis is a leading cause of COVID-19 deaths.
All the studies have found a significant relation between COVID-19 deaths and blood clotting but none of them mention it to be the leading cause. A study in Lancet for understanding the pathways leading to COVID-19 deaths has called respiratory failure as the main cause of COVID-19 deaths.
BOOM's spoke to two pulmonologists- Dr Rajesh Chawla Senior Consultant- Respiratory and Critical Care at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi and Dr, Jeenam Shah, Consultant Chest Physician and Interventional Pulmonologist at Saifee Hospital in Mumbai who explained their line of treatment and observations when they encountered patients with symptoms of thrombosis.
Dr. Chawla described that they have observed patients who get thrombi (multiple clots) and the circulation to their limbs was compromised and there have also been some reports of gangrene among patients. They are providing anticoagulants and drug thinning medicines on the basis of D-DIMER levels. He also discussed that a patient who was doing alright, suddenly had a cardiac involvement - cardiomyopathy. He started getting arrhythmia and they could not do anything for him. He went into a shock and died.
Dr Shah concurred with Dr.Chawla's observations and further stated that they had not witnessed such rapid symptoms in patients with swine flu and that they were also providing anticoagulants to their patients.