KLEIN KAROO NEWS- If you publish fake news or disinformation regarding the coronavirus online, you may be arrested, detained and prosecuted. If found guilty, you may be sent to jail for up to six months.
This is in terms of regulations issued by the Minister of Cooperate Governance and Traditional Affairs, doctor Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, on Wednesday 18 March.
Specifically, the notice states that:
"Any person who publishes any statement, through any medium, including social media, with the intention to deceive any other person about -
(a) Covid-19;
(b) Covid-19 infection status of any person; or
(c) any measure taken by the Government to address Covid-19, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, or both such fine and imprisonment."
This if FAKE NEWS.
The regulations were published while various untruths were doing the rounds online.
Caxton Local Media has investigated some myths posing as facts.
Myth: Someone deliberately created and released the Covid-19 virus.
Fact: According to Dr Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention at America's Johns Hopkins research hospital, a disease outbreak happens when a virus that is common in animals transforms and passes on to humans (diseases that pass from animals to humans are called zoonoses). Maragakis believes that this is how the 2019 strain of the coronavirus probably came into being.
Myth: Heat kills Covid-19. Some claims allege that drinking hot water, taking a warm bath or even blowing warm air into the sinuses using a hairdryer can cure the disease. It has also been alleged that summer temperatures above 26 degrees Celsius will make it disappear.
Fact: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned against these false statements and says there is no conclusive scientific proof to corroborate the suggestion that heat will cure patients with Covid-19. A statement advising people to take hot baths and avoid ice-cream was circulated online featuring the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) logo. The organisation has since indicated that the post did not originate from them.
Myth: Gargle with bleach or ingest it to protect yourself from Covid-19. Some social media messages also state that essential oils, salt water, ethanol and bicarbonate of soda can protect people from the virus.
Fact: Drinking or gargling with bleach is dangerous. Its active ingredient, sodium hypochlorite, is corrosive and could burn your stomach and oesophagus. The WHO confirmed that no confirmed cure exists, including those in the myth above. The WHO reiterates that the most effective way to protect oneself against the new coronavirus is by frequently cleaning your hands with alcohol-based hand sanitiser or by washing them with soap and water.
Myth: Spraying alcohol or chlorine all over your body can kill the coronavirus.
Fact: According to Maragakis and the WHO, this is untrue. She explains that spraying them could harm your mucus membranes. She adds that these items can, however, be used to disinfect surfaces, which has been cited by the WHO as another way to limit the spreading of the disease.
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