Why COVID-19 is not bio-engineered
Photo by CDC on Unsplash But questions remain about its possible origins in a Wuhan lab even as the evidence for such claims remain sketchy at best. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is believed to have first emerged in the Wuhan area of China’s Hubei province sometime in November/December 2019. […]
Madagascan remedy is not a proven COVID-19 cure
Image courtesy: Facebook A remedy touted by the Madagascan president has caused quite a stir but its effectiveness as a COVID-19 treatment remains unconfirmed and people are advised to be cautious of curative claims. Updated on 5 May 2020 to include a statement from the WHO Africa. African social media has gone slightly wild since […]
FALSE: COVID-19 is not airborne and there’s no cure
Image from WhatsApp Hoaxes about COVID-19 continue to circulate and thrive on social media with the latest being false claims that the virus is airborne and that a cure has been discovered. WhatsApp especially has become a hotbed of disinformation around COVID-19 and many of the hoaxes that have virally circulated in other parts of […]
FALSE: No Havana teacher has tested positive for COVID-19
Image from WhatsApp A viral social media post claims that a teacher at a school in Havana, Windhoek, has tested positive for COVID-19, but no evidence has been found to back up this claim. The post claims that the teacher’s husband is a police officer who escorted a Romanian couple (Namibia’s first confirmed cases of […]
FALSE: Bogus UNICEF bulletins mislead with coronavirus advice
Image source: Facebook Debunked COVID-19 related bulletins that purportedly emanate from UNICEF continue to mislead and misinform on social media. The advice bulletins have taken various forms, but the messages have remained the same, since they first started appearing online sometime in February 2020. The latest version of these fake United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) […]
FALSE: Dark skin and African genes do not prevent coronavirus infection
Image source: news-af.feednews.com Viral social media posts have falsely claimed that dark-skinned people and those with African genes are less prone to COVID-19 infection. A version of the claims appeared in a recent post shared via social media since early March 2020. The shared post was published on a website called Afriupdate News , which […]
FALSE: Israeli scientists have not created a COVID-19 vaccine
Image source: WhatsApp A false viral social media post has been pushing the claim since late February 2020 that Israeli scientists have created a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. The false social media post, of someone holding up a vial labelled ‘Coronavirus Vaccine’, has been making the rounds on social media globally for a few […]
FALSE: Calling a boycott of independence celebrations is not ‘treason’
Engel Nawatiseb – Image courtesy: Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Deputy information minister Engel Nawatiseb recently wrongly claimed that instigating Namibians to boycott Independence Day was “tantamount to treason”. Nawatiseb’s claim followed a press conference of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) Youth League on 24 February 2020 at which the league’s secretary general, Bensen Katjirijova, called […]
UNPROVEN: Police chief claims crime decrease with incomplete data
Image courtesy: One Africa TV Recently Namibian Police chief Ndeitunga misleadingly claimed a drop in crime using crime figures for only three quarters of the 2019/20 financial year. Inspector-general Sebastian Ndeitunga made the claim in a statement released to the media on 3 February 2020 by the head of the police’s public relations division, deputy […]
MOSTLY FALSE: President’s corruption-related claims at Cabinet opening are misleading
Photo courtesy: Namibian Presidency on Facebook President Hage Geingob made various off-the-mark statements about corruption-related matters during his opening address at the first Cabinet meeting of 2020. Towards the end of the speech, that was broadcast live on television and via social media on the morning of Tuesday, 4 February 2020, the president touched on […]