Fact Check: Did Dr Li Wenliang claim that coffee could be a cure for coronavirus?

Origin:

A Whatsapp forward claims that regular coffee has chemicals that can decrease the impact of COVID-19 on an individual. It also claims that the hospital staff in China has started serving coffee to the patients three times a day. The chemicals that are supposedly present in coffee and reduce the impact of COVID-19 are Methylxanthine, Theobromine and Theophylline. They are claimed to stimulate compounds that ultimately ward off the virus. Here is the message:

Breaking News from CNN :-

Dr. Li Wenliang, China's hero doctor who was punished for telling the truth about Corona Virus and later died due to the same disease, had documented casefiles for research purposes and had in the casefiles proposed a cure that would significantly decrease the impact of the COVID - 19 Virus on the human body. The chemical Methylxanthine, Theobromine and Theophylline stimulate compounds that can ward off these virus in a human with atleast an average immune system. Whats more shocking is that these complex words that were so difficult for people in China to understand is actually called COFFEE * in India, YES, our regular COFFEE has all these chemicals already in it. The main Methylxanthine in COFFEE is the stimulant caffeine. Other Methylxanthines found in COFFEE are two chemically similar compounds, Theobromine and Theophylline. The COFFEE plant creates these chemicals as a way to ward off insects and other animals. Who would have known that all the solution to these virus would be a simple cup of COFFEE and that is the reason so many patients in China are being cured. The hospital staff in china has started serving COFFEE to the patients 3 times a day, And the effect is finally in *Wuhan "The centre of this Pandemic" has been contained and community transmission has almost stopped.

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(Source: Whatsapp forward)

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Dr Li Wenliang was an ophthalmologist, which means he was an eye specialist. The CNN website also does not show any articles based on the case files by Dr Wenliang. Thus, this rumour is fake and misleading. Dr Li Wenliang's death was because of COVID-19, but he did not own any case files that claim coffee to be a COVID-19 cure.

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Dr Li Wenliang's coffee cure news is fake and misleading

The message shared about Dr Li Wenliang claiming that coffee can be used as a cure for coronavirus is similar to another false claim that Dr Li Wenliang had suggested tea for COVID-19. If one compares the two claims with each other, one can see that the message is just the same with the word Tea replaced by Coffee throughout. The tea claim was proven to be false. Here is the tea message:

(Source: Republic World)

Republic World's Fact Check on Dr Li Wenliang tea cure claim:

Fact Check: Did Dr Li Wenliang Find A Tea Cure For Coronavirus?

Google Trends Analysis

The Google Trends of this news show that people have been searching for 'coffee cure for coronavirus'. These searches shot up on June 8 at 7.30 pm. This shows that people are getting curious about whether this news is fake or true. People are also searching for the name of Dr Li Wenliang as well.

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