Is Queen Elizabeth II taking ivermectin? TV blunder fuels false rumours about her COVID treatment

On Sunday, it was announced that the world's longest-reigning current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, had tested positive for COVID-19.

The news of the 95-year-old sovereign's diagnosis sparked media attention worldwide, including in Australia, where she has been the head of state since her coronation in 1953.

But the story also sparked a conspiracy theory, after an editing mistake by an Australian news programme appeared to suggest the Queen was being given ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug that has become popular among anti-vaxxers and COVID-19 sceptics.

The Nine Network's A Current Affair programme quickly apologised for the mistake and re-edited the segment on the Queen's COVID-19 diagnosis, saying "we do not suggest the Queen is using ivermectin".

Buckingham Palace has not commented on the specific details of the Queen's treatment, but the drug is not approved for use as a COVID-19 treatment in the United Kingdom, where she lives.

She received her first COVID-19 vaccine in January last year, and is believed to have had her second and third jabs since then.

The error occurred on Monday evening, when A Current Affair broadcast a report on the Queen's positive COVID-19 test.

The segment featured an interview with Melbourne-based doctor Mukesh Haikerwal, who explained potential treatment options for elderly COVID-19 patients.

As Haikerwal spoke, the programme showed stock images of drugs, first two vials of the monoclonal antibody Sotrovimab - which has been authorised as a COVID-19 treatment - and then a packet of ivermectin tablets, shown under the brand name Stromectol.

"Ivermectin never even came into the conversation," Haikerwal told Guardian Australia. "I said there are medications available for people who are vulnerable… I