AFP Pakistan

Pakistan’s Ministry of Health refutes claim that novel coronavirus was found in chickens

Published on 20 February 2020 at 04:00

Photos of diseased chicken have been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook posts which claim the deadly novel coronavirus has been found in chickens in Pakistan. The claim is false; Pakistan’s Ministry of Health, National Institute of Health and the Pakistan Poultry Association told AFP there is “no evidence” novel coronavirus has been found in poultry. The photos are also being shared out of context as they show chickens sickened with an unrelated disease.

Pakistan’s Islamic party denied its chief wrote this letter urging members to forgo contraceptives to increase the party's voting base

Published on 18 February 2020 at 04:35

An image of a letter has been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook posts which claim it shows a note written by the head of Jamaat-e-Islami, a leading Islamic political party in Pakistan. The letter, written in Urdu, urges the party’s members to marry four women and to forgo contraceptives in order to increase party following. The claim is false; party officials said the letter is fake and denied it was written by their leader.

Health experts refute false claims that drinking boiled garlic water cures novel coronavirus

Published on 5 February 2020 at 05:05

Claims that the novel coronavirus can be cured overnight if sufferers drink freshly boiled garlic water have been shared hundreds of times in multiple posts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The posts were shared after a new strain of novel coronavirus broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan and subsequently spread to more than 20 other countries. The claim is false; medical experts told AFP there was no evidence to support the theory about drinking garlic water; international health organisations do not recommend the remedy and have said there is no specific antiviral treatment for the new strain of the novel coronavirus.

Novel coronavirus: Pakistani officials deny they issued warning over dangers of eating goat meat

Published on 31 January 2020 at 11:10

An image has been shared thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook claiming Punjab province in Pakistan issued a warning against eating goat meat for 60 days following a coronavirus outbreak in the livestock. The claim is false; the Punjab Food Authority issued a statement denying such warnings had been issued, and a spokesperson at the Pakistan’s National Institute of Health told AFP there was no evidence that the novel coronavirus was spreading among livestock in the country.

This video has circulated in reports about a seagull being rescued from power lines in the US

Published on 29 January 2020 at 10:20

A video has been shared hundreds of times in multiple posts on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube which claim it shows a member of the Pakistani Army rescuing a bird from a power line. The claim is false; the video has circulated in media reports about a power company helicopter being deployed to free a seagull from a power line in Virginia, US, in 2013.

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