Local fake news inflames coronavirus anxiety
Pini Bothoko | Friday March 13, 2020 16:21
Powered by social media, the wave of fake news about rumoured coronavirus cases, patients and even fake cures, is only exacerbating anxiety amongst Batswana and angering the Ministry of Health and Wellness, which this week had to step in.
Since South Africa announced its first coronavirus case last week, local fake news producers and content distributors have claimed the existence of cases in areas such as Lobatse, Gantsi, Tsabong and others.
A voice note circulated on WhatsApp groups claiming a maternity nurse had exhibited symptoms of the deadly virus, after her child allegedly returned from China. The voice note claimed Peleng Clinic in Lobatse had even been shut down as a result, a scenario shot down as untrue in all aspects by authorities in the border town.
Then there was the report about the man admitted at Tsabong clinic with strange symptoms suspected to be the coronavirus.
One message alleged that the health ministry was hiding a white patient from South Africa at Bokspits Clinic.
In the midst of this, huge amounts of so-called cures and vaccines have been generated, many from outside our borders, but readily shared on local social media and WhatsApp.
According to these cures, all one has to do to keep the coronavirus away is to take warm water with a mixture of lemon and ginger every morning to block the virus. Some videos are circulating showing fake deaths of the virus in other countries or how the disease is believed to be spreading across continents. Another message claimed that the virus only affected white people!
Health authorities are fed up.
“We are concerned about the level of misinformation going on in our social media,” health services director, Malaki Tshipayagae said on Wednesday. “These days everyone is an expert on everything, but this (coronavirus) is a serious issue with major health implications.
“Let us guard against messaging and make sure we do not misinform the nation.”
Each day, members of the multi-sectoral Emergency Operating Centre set up as a national response to the virus gather in a room in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, receiving updates countrywide and disseminating information.
Tshipayagae refers to this room as the ‘nerve centre’.
“The centre allows the public to call in and get more information about the coronavirus, the facts and also guidance on what to do,” he said.
“The team meets there and gathers reports, disseminates information on a daily basis to the nation.”
The team shares updates via multiple Btv interviews, television ads, radio jingles and interviews, posters, leaflets and other materials delivered to all districts, SMS sent via Orange and Mascom and a round the clock hotline available to all Batswana.
And yet by yesterday, the fake news machine was still grinding away on social media, increasing citizens’ panic.