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Life under lockdown seems to have created the perfect breeding ground for spreading false news, false information, hoaxes and scams about the new coronavirus.
News24 has previously reported on a large number of dubious claims, and some people have found themselves on the wrong side of the law for spreading incorrect information.
Additionally, the University of Cape Town’s Center for Behavior Analysis and Change (UCT) has launched a six-month project that will combat the spread of misinformation about the new coronavirus (Covid-19) in South Africa and beyond.
Despite that, the spread of false claims continues unabated.
The masks will not give you carbon dioxide poisoning
One of the new conspiracies being touted as an excuse not to wear face masks is that this can lead to “hypercapnia” or carbon dioxide toxicity. However, according to Forbes, from surgical masks to homemade facial coatings and N95 filter masks, this simply does not happen.
Carbon dioxide toxicity can lead to altered mental status, loss of consciousness, irregular heartbeat, breathing difficulties, and can even be fatal. But few people are at risk of experiencing hypercapnia in their daily lives, while wearing masks, face covers or not, Forbes reports.
This is because the carbon dioxide molecules are simply too small to be controlled by most materials in the mask and simply pass directly.
Forbes added that while the coronavirus particles are so small that they cannot be seen under regular microscopes, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and other gaseous molecules in the air, such as nitrogen, are much, much smaller than the coronavirus. and they will pass through the filter and main material of an N95 mask and virtually any other mask material made in-house or mass-produced.
Inhaling steam will not cure you
Tanzania President John Magufuli reportedly urged his health ministry to “emphasize” steam inhalation as a way to treat Covid-19.
Africa Check investigated this claim and found that there is no evidence that inhaling steam can treat the virus, which replicates in cells, and experts warned that the practice is dangerous.
In a live broadcast on April 22, Magufuli, speaking in Kiswahili, focused on steam inhalation, and asked the country’s Ministry of Health to advertise since the science in her favor was clear, Africa Check reported.
A transcript of Magafuli’s speech, translated by Africa Check, reads as follows: “I therefore ask the Ministry of Health to emphasize this, for example, the issue of steam inhalation. Scientifically, that is very clear. That it’s because the steam comes from boiling water at temperatures above 100 ° C. And because the coronavirus is made up of fats, when exposed to temperatures as high as above 100 ° C, it will just disintegrate. It’s a scientific treatment. ” .
Vapor inhalation is “highly unlikely” to treat the coronavirus, Alberto Escherio, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in the United States, told Africa Check.
“The virus in infected individuals is found inside cells and will not be reached by steam,” he said.
Thai herb does not cure coronavirus, as Nigerian prophetess claims
Africa Check also examined a viral video showing a Nigerian woman, posing as “prophetess Dupe Oluwaniyi”, saying that Siam Weed, or Chromolaena odorata, is the cure for the new coronavirus.
In the video, which has been circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook, Oluwaniyi reportedly says he received the information by divine inspiration after praying about the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is the remedy to cure coronavirus. Share it, tell everyone. You can find it anywhere that is very close to you. Nobody is asking you for money. Let everyone know that this is the cure for coronavirus and look for it. Let they look for it, they leave it viral, “she says.
The woman says the herb must be squeezed to extract a liquid to drink as a remedy, or boil and drink hot, like tea.
It is absolutely wrong to claim that any substance can cure any disease without rigorous scientific testing, Marycelin Baba, a professor of medical virology and microbiology at Maiduguri University in northeast Nigeria, told Africa Check.
“The question to ask is: ‘Where is the scientific evidence?’ There is a long process that Siam grass needs to go through before [can be] accepted as a cure. That process includes preclinical trials and clinical trials, “Baba reportedly said.
The coronavirus did not originate in South Africa.
An out of context quote suggesting that the new coronavirus may have originated in South Africa has led to a virtual collapse on social media.
Following the publication of an online story in the UK Daily Express newspaper published on Monday, the Humane Society International-Africa (HSI-Africa) has released a clarifying statement on the “misleading nature of its headline and various quotes” attributed Audrey Delsink, Director of Wildlife, HSI-Africa.
The article was added by other publications, including The South African, which published a story with the headline: “The disease may have come from SA, not Wuhan: the experts’ claim is causing a stir.”
Both publications have updated their articles since then.
“While Delsink acknowledged that it is not inconceivable, a pangolin trafficked from South Africa could have ended up at a wildlife market in Wuhan, China, where conditions were such that Covid-19 first evolved, he did not suggest at all that the virus originated in South Africa, “HSI-Africa said in a statement.
Reports on the opening of Chinese police stations in SA are false and are 2 years old
According to the French news agency AFP, the Chinese have not opened any police stations in the country, but have established 14 community and police cooperation centers to work with the South African police.
An image accompanying a Facebook post shows Chinese police officers who attended the opening of the 14th center in Port Elizabeth. The post, dated October 30, 2018, contains an image of the opening with the Eastern Cape Police Commissioner, Lt. Gen. Liziwe Ntshinga and uniformed Chinese dignitaries, with a caption that reads: “#The Chinese are now opening their own Police stations in South Africa to protect their own people and businesses. #Ramaphosa and #ANC have sold our country to the highest Bider (sic). “
Some of the latest theories to the surface include that: “China opened 13 police stations in SA to ensure that the Chinese virus does (sic) what it was designed to do (sic)”; “The Chinese send the police there first (sic) and then the Chinese virus to clear SA for them. Africa is sold to China.” “China has started to colonize SA, we’ve had (sic) shopping malls, cities, towns and more recently Chinese police stations! What the hell? Yes, we have to deal with this”; and “Chinese (sic) personnel were recently deployed to Johannesburg police stations.”
National Police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo told News24 on Wednesday that “there was no Chinese police station in South Africa.”
“These are just old publications that people have been spreading.”
You can find all Africa Check coronavirus data verifications in one place at bit.ly/3dzSN4E.
– Compiled by Riaan Grobler
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