Paris (AFP)
While the epidemic of new coronavirus has exceeded 100 deaths in China on Tuesday, with more than 4,500 confirmed cases of contamination, a lot of false information is spreading massively on social networks. Here are examples dissected by AFP around the world.
- Quarantine in the Paris region, cases proven in several cities: FALSE
Publications circulating on social networks for a few days report patients infected with the new coronavirus in several regions of France: in the Paris region, in Savoie (east), in Lot-et-Garonne (south-west), in the Pyrenees -Orientales (south-east) or Orléans (center).
This is false: hospitals and local authorities have refuted these rumors, launched for some with screenshots of manipulated pretending to tweets or images from BFMTV or an AFP dispatch, all false.
For now, France has on its soil three patients infected with the new coronavirus, who had all stayed in Wuhan (central China), epicenter of the epidemic. One is hospitalized in Bordeaux and the other two in Paris.
In addition, in France, the Ministry of Health is responsible for announcing new confirmed cases.
http://u.afp.com/349t
- This new coronavirus created and then patented by the Americans: FALSE
http://u.afp.com/349g
- A video showing the Chinese market where the virus appeared: FALSE
A video, viewed nearly 28 million times in a few days on Facebook, shows, according to the author of a publication, "the market causing (the) epidemic" of the Chinese coronavirus, in the metropolis of Wuhan. But it's wrong. It is actually a market on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.
http://u.afp.com/34Cg
- Saline solution to protect against coronavirus: FALSE
Numerous posts on Twitter, Facebook and the Chinese social network Weibo, shared since January 20, claim that a Chinese specialist in respiratory medicine advised people to rinse their mouths with saline solutions in order to avoid infection by a new virus.
But the scientist's team and the WHO deny these assertions: "the coronavirus contaminates the respiratory system, which cannot be cleaned by rinsing the mouth", explains in particular the hospital where the medical team of the scientist, Zhong works Nanshan.
http://u.afp.com/349v
- Contaminated places and food in Australia: FALSE
Many Facebook publications circulating in Australia disseminate lists of products - rice, "fortunes cookies", energy drink ... - and of Australian localities near Sydney which would be contaminated by the new coronavirus.
This is false: the authorities of the province of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, have assured AFP that the places listed do not present any risk of contamination. As for the foods mentioned, they do not appear on the product recall list of health authorities.
In English: http://u.afp.com/34jH
- Doctors warning that the 11 million inhabitants of Wuhan will die: FALSE
A Facebook post shared thousands of times in four days among Sri Lankan social media users said doctors fear that all residents of Wuhan - where the virus has been detected - who are in quarantine, will die.
This is false, the authorities have not expressed such a perspective. In addition, the American public health agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has indicated that, even if there are no vaccines for this new type of coronavirus, most people will recover from them. -Same.
In English: http://u.afp.com/34jV
© 2020 AFP