AFP Philippines

Misleading claim spreads online about detection of bubonic plague in China

Published on 9 July 2020 at 07:10

Multiple Facebook and Twitter posts shared thousands of times claim the World Health Organization (WHO) has said a case of bubonic plague detected in China in early July 2020 is likely to trigger a "severe epidemic". The posts include an additional claim that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said bubonic plague can be spread through cough droplets. The claims are misleading; the WHO has said the bubonic plague case is not high-risk and is “being well managed”; the CDC states bubonic plague is usually caused by flea bites.

No, both of these photos circulated online years before Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency

Published on 7 July 2020 at 06:30

A photo collage has been shared repeatedly in multiple Facebook posts which claim it shows that a polluted river in the Philippines has been cleaned up following the election of Rodrigo Duterte as president in 2016. The claim is false; both photos have circulated online since at least 2011, five years before Duterte became president; the photos show a tributary of the river cited in the posts.

This purported news report about Filipino actor Piolo Pascual's 'death' is a hoax

Published on 3 July 2020 at 07:00

A purported television news report has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in multiple posts on YouTube and on websites in June 2020 which claim it shows a report about the "death" of Filipino actor Piolo Pascual in a carjacking. The claim is false; the video has been created using an earlier TV news report about an unrelated car robbery in 2015; on July 1, 2020, Pascual’s management team said rumours about the actor’s “death” were “fake news”.

False claim circulates online that China is no longer hospitalising COVID-19 patients

Published on 1 July 2020 at 10:41

Multiple Facebook and Twitter posts shared hundreds of times in June 2020 claim that people in China have stopped going to hospitals for COVID-19 treatment and instead "kill the virus with heat" through "steam inhalation"; "hot gargles" and "hot tea". The claims are false; as of July 1, 2020, Chinese media continues to report on the hospitalisation of COVID-19 patients; experts warn the purported remedies for COVID-19 cited in the misleading posts do not cure the virus and are potentially harmful to human health.

This photo has circulated in reports since at least 2014, years before the COVID-19 pandemic

Published on 30 June 2020 at 07:15

A blog post has been shared thousands of times in multiple Facebook posts which claim it shows a video of a baby who died after being infected with the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. The claim is false; the blog post in fact shows a photo that has circulated online since 2014 in reports about a man who killed his wife and children in New York City.