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AFP / Jim Watson

2016 photo of tank in Toronto resurfaces amid COVID-19 outbreak

Published on Wednesday 8 April 2020 at 23:16Updated on Thursday 9 April 2020 at 15:57
As a special task force assembled earlier this month to help in the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, a photo of a tank on Toronto’s Dundas Square surfaced on social media. However, the photo was taken in 2016 during a festival and no tanks were used to move troops throughout the Greater Toronto Area, army representatives told AFP.
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Facebook posts falsely claim the US arrested a Chinese scientist who “created” coronavirus

Published on Friday 3 April 2020 at 14:02Updated on Thursday 30 April 2020 at 17:06

Facebook posts shared thousands of times feature a video of US officials talking to reporters, with captions claiming they are announcing the arrest of a Chinese scientist who “created” the new coronavirus. However, the footage has nothing to do with COVID-19 and scientists have refuted allegations the virus was deliberately created.

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AFP / Adalberto Roque

Hemingway phrase misrepresented as Trump and Biden statement on COVID-19 death toll

Published on Wednesday 1 April 2020 at 21:50
Facebook posts shared tens of thousands of times claim that US President Donald Trump or presidential candidate Joe Biden referred to the novel coronavirus virus pandemic as a time when “people are dying that have never died before.” This is false; there is no record of either man saying this, and letters from Ernest Hemingway show the phrase can be traced to the famed US author.
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AFP / Robert MacPherson

Articles spread Tim Hortons closure hoax in Canada

Published on Friday 27 March 2020 at 22:30
Two articles claiming that iconic coffee chain Tim Hortons will close all Canada franchises on March 30, 2020 because of the novel coronavirus were shared more than 150,000 times on Facebook. This is false; though locations are closed to dining-in, drive-throughs remain open, a spokeswoman for the chain told AFP.
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