Nigerian TV screenshot of '472 confirmed cases' refers to Lassa fever — not COVID-19
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on March 25, 2020 at 18:12
- 3 min read
- By Segun OLAKOYENIKAN, AFP Nigeria
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The screenshot from a broadcast on Nigeria’s ChannelsTV station appears in several posts on Facebook, including this one published on March 22, 2020.
The post’s caption partly reads: “I just knew it. Nigerians, just stay home if you love your life.”
The post alleges that Nigerians “don’t even believe corona virus is real(sic)”, and attributed the “472 confirmed cases” to the pandemic that has caused more than 18,000 deaths globally and put one-third of the world’s population under lockdown.
The TV screenshot does not feature the words “coronavirus” or “COVID-19”, but references the World Health Organization (WHO) in the bottom right-hand corner.
The image was shared in Facebook posts here, here and here, as well as in tweets here and here, alongside similar claims.
But the claim is false: The data on the screen actually shows a breakdown of the spread of Lassa fever across Nigerian states.
Lassa fever is endemic in Nigeria and some other West African countries, including Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Togo. More than 900 cases of Lassa fever including at least 160 deaths have been recorded in Nigeria since the start of the year.
Fewer than 50 novel coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the West African country, as of March 25, 2020.
AFP found that the figure of “472 confirmed cases" that was wrongly attributed to coronavirus was indeed sourced from the World Health Organization; it represents the number of confirmed cases of Lassa fever in Nigeria between January 1 and February 9, 2020.
Cases were reported in 26 of Nigeria’s 36 states, including the capital Abuja.
AFP compared the breakdown of the figures across the 26 affected states on the WHO website and found it matched the one on the screenshot circulating on social media.
Moreover, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has dismissed the claim. The NCDC said in a tweet that the figures on the television screenshot “are reported cases of #Lassafever,” as of February 2020.
NCDC is a aware of tv screen image circulating of "472 confirmed cases" being attributed to #COVID19
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 23, 2020
NCDC is currently managing a national #Lassafever outbreak. The figures which appear are reported cases of #Lassafever as at February
Lassa fever sitreps:https://t.co/bJgujjVUGH pic.twitter.com/pqdYw2ry9c
NCDC urges Nigerians to check its website for updates on the Lassa fever outbreak in the country.
ChannelsTV has also refuted the claim, saying that the screenshot “has been mischievously shared”. The television station says the breakdown of 472 confirmed cases was aired on Sunday, March 22, 2020, for “a report on Lassa Fever and not COVID-19”.
This graphic slide on "Confirmed Cases" which is making the rounds was used in a report on Lassa Fever and not COVID-19 as has been mischievously shared.
— Channels Television (@channelstv) March 23, 2020
See the link to the original report, which aired on Sunday, March 22. https://t.co/B9AvQonh9x pic.twitter.com/hIeEylNCYu
More than 427,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 globally since the first cases of the virus were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.
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