“The contaminated Covid test coming from China”, “it seems that the covid test is already contaminated”, highlight users who share the compilation on Facebook and Twitter.The content was also sent to AFP's WhatsApp We checked for verification.Screenshots taken on July 7, 2022 of a Twitter post ( . / )The first video of the compilation that went viral on the networks shows large cardboard boxes stored on the seats of an aircraft.The narrator approaches the boxes labeled “VivaDiag SARS-CoV-2 Ag Rapid Test” and says, “A good deal.”These rapid tests to detect covid-19 are manufactured by the Chinese Vivachek Biotech and were registered with Anvisa.In the second video, a man displays two boxes: one of the QuickVue At-Home rapid test, which is not registered with the Brazilian health agency, and another with a microscope."I received a video from you saying that people are being vaccinated through the covid test. [...] So to prove it, to take the test of nine, I bought here a covid test and a microscope", says a man unidentified person who takes the swab from the testing kit and another regular cotton swab and places them next to each other on the microscope.When comparing the images of both, he points to black threads in the test swab and claims that the material would be alive: "It moves and has its own light".Based on this image, he attests that "it is proven that there is something in the covid test".The third and final video of the sequence shows a person taking a swab out of the package, with an off-screen narrator who says "that's the cotton swab that has those black stuff in there".The narrator continues: "People are undergoing these tests and they are contaminating themselves. [...] They said new strains are coming. After testing, after vaccinations."At the request of AFP Checamos, biomedical physician Mellanie Fontes Dutra watched the video.About the second excerpt, she stated that "the points observed by the author of the video [under the microscope] do not have a relationship with the vaccination against covid-19".According to Dutra, it is not possible to identify what the black threads that appear in the image are, but that they may be "the very threads that make up the swab at a higher magnification with some type of contamination" since the man appears "handling without adequate hygienic care and in a non-sterile place".The biomedic explained that the conditions in which the experiment was carried out were not suitable, being "an unsterilized environment and subject to various contaminants".For a similar content, according to which the protective masks would come with parasites, Marina Jovanovic, a specialist in Biological Sciences and a researcher associated with the Institute of General Chemistry and Physics in Belgrade, explained to AFP that, under real laboratory conditions, the element a to be analyzed under the microscope must be placed between at least two layers of glass and must not be constantly touched with the hands.Regarding the method of the experiment, Dutra adds that it is not possible to observe the presence of any virus using the type of microscope that appears in the images.The Pasteur Institute explains on its website the history of microscopes and, in particular, the difference between optical and electron microscopes: “To observe viruses, scientists had to go down to the nanometer level [...] and wait until the second half century and the arrival of electron microscopes” to “observe elements even smaller than those visible with optical microscopes”.In addition, according to the expert, the "self light" to which the narrator refers cannot serve as proof of the presence of a virus, since "viruses do not emit light".On the allegation that swabs were being used to vaccinate the population, Dutra stated that there is no such technology of vaccination using a cotton swab to date."The closest thing to that are intranasal vaccines, which are in the study phase for covid-19 and which have another type of mechanism not involving cotton swabs".Furthermore, "hardly [a virus] would survive that long [on a cotton swab], given that the virus needs to be inside a cell to survive."A scientist uses a microscope to look at cells containing SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory in Burgess Hill, England, on May 15, 2020 (AFP/BEN STANSALL)In the third video of the compilation, the narrator claims that the contaminated tests are the reason for the new strains.However, as experts have already explained to AFP, the mutations in a virus, which give rise to the variants, occur naturally as it reproduces in human cells.What generates the new variants is the replication of the virus.Each time it proliferates, it has to duplicate the genetic material.Each time it duplicates the genetic material, it generates errors in the genome.It is these errors that generate the variants, Maria Carolina Sabbaga, deputy director of the Scientific Development Center at the Butantan Institute, told Checamos.On its website, the Butantan Institute also explains this mechanism: “Mutation is a natural and evolutionary process, even more so if the organism in question has ribonucleic acid (RNA, the genetic material of the virus) in its constitution, as is the case with the SARS-CoV-2.(...) When invading a cell, the virus delivers its genetic material to the ribosomes, structures in which the cell's proteins are produced.Ribosomes assemble copies of the virus.Whenever this happens, there is a chance that an error will occur in the replica.One or another mutation can give the virus an advantage and, when passed on, it will produce copies that already have this advantage”.“We have to keep in mind that the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates whenever it infects someone.It accumulates about two to three mutations a month.This is a natural and expected thing of viral biology.Any virus accumulates mutations when it infects a person,” said Anderson Brito, virologist and scientific researcher at Instituto Todos pela Saúde (ITpS, São Paulo-SP).This content was also verified by Estadão.This verification was carried out based on scientific and official information about the new coronavirus available as of the date of this publication.BRASILIA (Reuters) - The National Congress on Tuesday overrode a veto by President Jair Bolsonaro and restored the possibility of financial compensation from the Union to states that have lost revenue due to the approval of a bill that limits ICMS on fuels, natural gas, electricity, communications and public transport.Parliamentarians approved a proposal that started to consider products and services in these sectors and areas as essential, which, in practice,(Reuters) - Meta said on Thursday that Facebook is creating ways for users to have up to five profiles, a major departure from the "real name" requirement that the company has maintained since its inception.The product change "will help people tailor their experience based on interests and relationships," such as publishing different types of content geared toward family versus friends, Meta said in a statement.SÃO PAULO, SP, AND MILAN, ITALY (FOLHAPRESS) - This Thursday (14th), Italy will experience another episode in the series of twists that have characterized the country's politics in recent decades.Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced his resignation driven by the crisis triggered by the 5 Star Movement (M5S), one of the parties that make up the ruling coalition.The party decided not to support a decree in the Senate that had the validity of a vote of confidence in the government.Soon after the vote, Draghi went to the PalaceThe organization attributes the decline to the impacts of the pandemic on logistics and disinformation, as well as the increase in the number of children living in areas of vulnerability.Orbán's government is also accused of violating press freedom, in a new chapter of tensions between the EU and its member country.She was the first pregnant woman to give birth that day.The birth recorded by the nurses, which culminated in the arrest of the aggressor, was the third performed by the doctor on Sunday.Who doesn't like a pie, right?But how about an event to taste of several...Dmitriy Rogozin has been running the Russian space agency since 2018;Yuri Borisov takes over the directionNave will occupy an entire arena in the Olympic Park, where the festival takes place in September.Minister of the Civil House gave the statement while accompanying the vote on the proposal in the Chamber.Enactment should be on Friday, according to PachecoThe Civil Police opened a second investigation this Friday (15) to find out other possible...For now, the mayor makes a risky bet: Rodrigo Neves, now supported by the PSD, goes to 9% in the scenario without Felipe Santa Cruz, well below Castro and FreixoProposal could further accelerate inflation, generating high interest rates and reducing jobsHe was the creator of the floating orixás sculptures on the Dique do Tororó, in Salvador;governor of Bahia decreed official mourningPortugal has recorded a sudden increase in the average number of deaths in the country in the last seven days....When Jason lost his arm, he thought he would never be able to play drums again, but a new prosthesis brought him back to music.This new robotic prosthesis can not only keep pace with a human hand, but also improvise!!Explosives from Ukraine's ports threaten bathersA UFRJ researcher defends in a study that, with technology and virtual classes, professors are responsible for much larger classes and are replaced by recorded content, a movement that has led to mass cuts in professors.The 62-year-old actor appeared in a British court to answer for alleged events between 2005 and 2013Atletico-MG forward says that his weight dropped from 97 to 91 kilos during the game for the Copa do Brasil.Doctor explains factors that led to this