AFP Nigeria

Nigerian health authority denounces fake social media accounts

Published on 8 April 2020 at 11:18

Social media accounts purporting to represent the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control have proliferated since February, when Africa's most populous country recorded its first case of COVID-19. AFP Fact Check rounds up some of the most popular fake accounts.

This is an AFP photo shot in 2006 during an unrelated incident

Published on 7 April 2020 at 17:37

An image has been shared multiple times on Facebook in Liberia in support of a claim that pastors were beaten for defying government restrictions on religious gatherings amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. Although a police crackdown on churches took place, the use of the picture in this context is false as it was shot years ago at an unrelated event.

Experts dismiss claims that 5G wireless technology created the novel coronavirus

Published on 7 April 2020 at 12:11Updated on 7 April 2020 at 12:15

Numerous conspiracy theories, shared on and off social media, allege that 5G mobile networks are the cause of the novel coronavirus pandemic. This is false; experts told AFP that 5G is based on radio frequency, and that this does not create viruses.

This CNN broadcast has been doctored, Nigerian leader did not test positive for coronavirus

Published on 6 April 2020 at 16:39Updated on 6 April 2020 at 16:59

An image of a purported CNN broadcast shared thousands of times in multiple social media posts claims Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari and his chief of staff Abba Kyari tested positive for the novel coronavirus. But while Kyari has indeed tested positive for the virus, there is no evidence to support the claim that Buhari was infected with COVID-19. The picture of the alleged broadcast was fabricated using another screenshot of a CNN show.

False claims that Nigeria is coronavirus-free circulate online

Published on 3 April 2020 at 15:35

Posts shared thousands of times on Facebook in Canada claim that Nigeria was free of the novel coronavirus as early as March 2020. This is false; data from the World Health Organization and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) show that new cases have been reported every week in Nigeria since February 27.

Languages