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Hong Kong (AFP)
Gargle salt water, use natural eyedrops, steam-clean a face masks — false claims about learn how to fight a lethal coranavirus epidemic rising out of China are flooding the web.
Social media giants have promoted their methods to fight misinformation associated to the epidemic, which has claimed greater than 560 lives in China and unfold to 24 nations.
Twitter, which reported 15 million coronavirus-related tweets in January, mentioned it had suspended auto-suggest search outcomes that will doubtless produce untrustworthy content material.
Fb additionally mentioned it was focusing on false claims geared toward discouraging therapy or taking applicable precautious with the respiratory virus.
“This consists of claims associated to false cures or prevention strategies — like consuming bleach cures the coronavirus — or claims that create confusion about well being sources which are accessible,” Kang-Xing Jin, Fb’s head of well being, mentioned in an announcement.
The World Well being Group (WHO) has additionally launched a marketing campaign to discredit particular claims, equivalent to that sesame oil and mouthwash can successfully kill the virus.
But the misinformation continues to pollute social media platforms and messaging apps.
Here’s a collection of the false claims that AFP, which has a specialised fact-checking group, has debunked in current days:
– Boiling contemporary garlic –
A declare that the coronavirus will be cured in a single day if victims drink freshly boiled garlic water was shared throughout Fb, Twitter and YouTube in Pakistan.
“There isn’t a scientific proof to substantiate the declare that garlic boiled water cures the novel coronavirus neither is there any correct medical analysis accessible on the topic,” mentioned Dr Wasim Khawaja, an professional on the Pakistani Institute of Medical Sciences, for an AFP fact-check report.
– Antibiotic eye drop –
Within the Philippines, movies seen many tens of millions of declare the virus will be cured with a watch drop manufactured from sap from a neighborhood shrub that’s generally used to deal with fever and abdomen points.
One 11-minute video, claiming the tinospora crispa plant is an efficient “antibiotic” for the virus, was seen greater than 1.5 million instances on Fb.
There was no medical proof to again this declare.
– Steaming face masks –
A video of a purported physician advising individuals to steam disposable surgical face masks to reuse them was seen a whole lot of hundreds of instances in a number of Chinese language-language posts on Fb, Weibo and Youku.
In Hong Kong, the video was seen virtually 900,00zero instances inside a day after a lawmaker shared it on Fb.
The WHO, the Hong Kong Purple Cross and the Hong Kong Centre for Well being Safety have all issued warnings in opposition to steaming –- or reusing in any respect –- single-use masks.
– Natural treatments –
Within the days following Sri Lanka’s first confirmed coronavirus case, an article was shared a whole lot of instances on Fb claiming that asafoetida, a plant usually utilized in conventional Indian drugs, can stop an infection.
The declare was broadly refuted by well being consultants who urged Sri Lankans to observe official Ministry of Well being suggestions.
“There’s completely no foundation to the claims that varied herbs equivalent to perumkaayam can function protecting limitations in opposition to the unfold of coronavirus,” mentioned Dr Ashan Pathirana, a registrar at Sri Lanka’s state-run Well being Promotion Bureau.
– Gargling saline options –
A declare that a high Chinese language respiratory professional suggested individuals to rinse their mouths with salt water to stop an infection was shared broadly on a number of social media platforms, together with Weibo, Twitter and Fb.
“No current findings have advised that saline water can kill the brand new coronavirus,” the professional, Zhong Nanshan, mentioned as he refuted the false declare.
* AFP presently works with Fb’s fact-checking programme in virtually 30 nations and 9 languages. Dozens of different media teams, together with information organisations and specialised fact-checkers, work worldwide on the programme, which began in December 2016.
Reality-checkers are free to decide on how and what they want to examine.
© 2020 AFP
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