Home Blog Page 135

Can neem, bitter leaves, Tagiri, others prevent, cure COVID-19?

Opeyemi Kehinde
-
0
Can neem, bitter leaves, Tagiri, others prevent, cure COVID-19?

TWO videos tweeted by one of the first-class traditional rulers in Nigeria claimed that a combination of African herbs, roots and leaves was the ‘solution’ to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that has baffled the world for over 18 months.

Neem leaves (Azadiractha Indica), bitter leaves (Vernonia Amygdalina), ‘Aidan’ fruits (Tetrapleura Tetraptera), Ethiopian pepper (Xylopia Aethipica) and onions (Allium Cepa) were among the combinations listed in the videos’ narration.

Screenshot of one of the tweeted videos by the @OoniAdimulaIfe.

The videos titled: ‘Corona virus solution – Potent Yoruba herbs to help,’ with a combined playback of three minutes, 53 seconds, were posted on social media on March 30, 2020 by a Twitter user, @OoniAdimulaIfe.

When this reporter checked the profile of the user, it revealed that it was the official Twitter handle of ‘His Majesty Alayeluwa Arole Oodua Olofin Adimula, Ọ̀ọni Adeyẹ́yẹ̀ Ẹnitan Bàbátunde Ògúnwusi Ọjàjà II, Ooni of Ife.’

Ooni Ogunwusi Enitan Adeyeye, Ojaja II.

The Ọọ̀ni of Ife, according to a BBC report, is one of the most influential among the Yoruba people, Nigeria’s second-biggest ethnic group, estimated at about 35 million people in West Africa. He’s also the co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN).

His Twitter account, as of noon of June 30, 2021, had over 48,000 followers. The tweeted videos had garnered a combined 30,800 views as of noon on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. They also had a combined 1,076 retweets and 1,582 likes, among dozens of comments on the tweet thread.

The same video was also posted on the traditional ruler’s Facebook community page on April 14, 2020.  It has garnered over 10,000 views, 363 likes and 48 comments. Also, his page is followed by over 72,000 users.

A screenshot of the Facebook page belonging to the Ooni of Ife, showing the video claim.

The neem (Dogoyaro) leaves, bitter leaves claim by the Ooni of Ife

Part of the video narration read: “These five materials are pounded together and spread into the air (in an open place) for it to dry off to make an incense known as Turari in Yoruba.

“Prepare ‘hot’ coal in a bowl and put the grounded ingredients inside it and use the smoke to cleanse the environment and the air; to chase away the bad energy and the viruses from the air.

“The second use of that incense is that you can put the incense into hot water; with the help of blanket in an enclosed environment to heat the (human) body and inhale the steam from the water to enter into your body system.

“The fourth one is Ewe Ewuro in Yoruba popularly known as Bitter Leaves…pound it and take the powder with warm water once a day.

“The fifth one is mix Ewe Akoko in Yoruba popularly known as Boundary Tree with Ewe Dogoyaro and its fruit in Yoruba popularly known as Neem Leaves and its fruits. Then pound the two together and mix with any bathing soap and use them to bathe early in the morning. May Olodumare (The Creator) help us to eradicate and get rid of the COVID-19…Amen!”

The viral ginger, Tagiri claims

Similarly, there have been various local news reports and posts online, especially on YouTube and Twitter, peddling claims that ginger prevents or cures COVID-19.

A COVID-19 survivor, Ayowande Adalemo, narrating how he got cured of the infection after using ginger, among others.

In a Channels TV news report, posted on its YouTube channel on July 20, 2020, Ayowande Adalemo, a techpreneur and COVID-19 survivor, claimed he got cured of the infection after using ‘herbs, fruits and vegetables’ which included ginger.

In the interview, he listed neem, avocado leaves, lime, turmeric, ginger, garlic, beetroot, pineapple and oranges among the items he used to treat the infection.

Also, in a Vanguard news report published on April 24, 2020, a former Governor of Anambra State Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife advocated using an herbal cure for COVID-19.

“Typically: Lemon (two or three cuts), ground Ginger (one teaspoon), ground Turmeric (one teaspoon), ground black pepper (half teaspoon), ground Garlic (half teaspoon) are mixed in hot water and taken (drank). This works both as a preventive and as a cure. Herbal medicines, like the above, are most effective when used early – at the inception stages of the infection.

“Everybody at the risk of being infected, including the medical personnel should be required to take the herbal medicine. The aggressive use of herbal treatment can end COVID-19 Pandemic,” he stated.

A screenshot of the Vanguard news report showing Ezeife’s claim.

In addition, some YouTubers have claimed on several videos that Christmas Melon, locally called Tagiri in the Yoruba-speaking part of Nigeria, could prevent all forms of sickness, including COVID-19.

This reporter visited a herbs seller in the heart of Ibadan, Oyo State capital, who claimed she had the antidote to the COVID-19 infection.

In a brief interview with the ICIR, Mrs Balogun said: “I have the herbal remedies to COVID-19, like ‘Dogoyaro’ leaves, ‘Yayi’ tree barks, cocoa tree barks, ‘Ile-Pupa’ pepper and ‘Iyere’ (black pepper), among others. Once cooked together and drink regularly by any COVID-19 patient, it will cure the infection gradually.”

“People are not covering nose again because they’re now buying herbs for COVID-19 and keeping ‘Tagiri’  at home allegedly to prevent COVID-19 infection, as most people claimed that it’s working for them,” she added.

Screenshot of the claim by a Twitter user, @QeenK_myheart, that Tagiri gives protection.

While the use of Tagiri for the prevention of diseases, including COVID-19, is a popularly held opinion among some Nigerians in the south-western part of the nation, their northern counterparts believe that ginger and Dogoyaro leaves can prevent or cure COVID-19 infection, this reporter observed.

For the purpose of this investigation, this reporter will focus on the neem leaves, bitter leaves, ginger and Tagiri , given that some of the other herbs and fruits like onions, garlic, among others, have been fact-checked here and here.

Who are the purveyors of the claims?

To ascertain who the purveyors of these claims are on the internet, this reporter utilised the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) tools to unravel the spread of this information and authenticate the networks where the claims might have been shared.

Using keywords such as Tagiri, ginger, bitter and neem leaves with COVID-19 at different times, this reporter used Hoaxy® to visualise the spread of the information on Twitter. It revealed several individuals on Twitter handles disseminating the information to other groups of users.

Network analysis of tweets with the keywords: ginger and COVID-19, using Hoaxy – an OSINT tool.

In the Hoaxy® dashboard, each circular node represents a Twitter account. The larger the circle, the more popular the account. Colours indicate the likelihood that the account is a bot.

The blue and lemon colours show normal accounts operated likely by humans. The yellow shows that an account is most likely neutral, while the orange and red colours indicate accounts that are most likely bots.

In addition, the edges that connect the nodes represent tweets that connect accounts through retweets or mentions. The direction of the arrow indicates the flow of information. The colour of the edge indicates whether the tweet contains a link to a claim or a link to a fact-checking article.

Network analysis of tweets with the keyword: neem leaves, using Hoaxy.

For the neem leaves, data showed that more than half of the tweet interactions visualised were most likely from human accounts. The same goes for the ginger.

The most visible Twitter account disseminating information on neem leaves is @TribalArmy, a verified account that shows normal activity on Twitter, according to BotSentinel – another OSINT tool deployed.

Network analysis of tweets with the keyword: Tagiri, using Hoaxy.

BotSentinel is a free platform developed to classify and track inauthentic accounts and toxic trolls using machine learning and artificial intelligence.

For ginger, it’s @444deezy -0 another account that exhibits satisfactory activity on Twitter.

But for the bitter leaves, it’s @vraman16, an account that exhibits normal activity on Twitter, whereas for the Tagiri, it’s @sn_20200122 which could not be evaluated as the Twitter account was locked or protected, except for its approved followers.

Network analysis of tweets with the keywords: Bitter leaves and COVID-19, using Hoaxy.

Also, when a Google Reverse Image Search – one of the OSINT tools – was carried out on a screenshot of the tweeted video by the Ooni of Ife, this reporter traced the clip to the Facebook page of the traditional ruler named: ‘Ooni of Ife Leadership Colloquium.’

Further findings revealed that the video originated from the Ooni’s palace as it contained the official logo of the monarch, which was also seen on another image here.

The Google Reverse Image Search carried out on the screenshot image in the tweeted video by the Ooni of Ife.

Can neem leaves, bitter leaves, ginger, and Tagiri knock out COVID-19?

From Nigeria, Ghana to Madagascar and Tanzania, among other African nations, herbal remedies have been touted as antidotes to the COVID-19 infection, but none has been scientifically tested and successfully approved for human consumption.

Research by the trio of Xin Yi Lim, Bee Ping Teh, and Terence Yew Chin Tan, and published on March 24, 2021, in a pharmacology journal on behalf of Malaysia’s Herbal Medicine Research Centre (HMRC) COVID-19 Rapid Review Team, discovered that the neem leaves reported “positive antiviral evidence specific to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) based on preliminary in silico data.”

Analysis of the Twitter accounts investigated using BotSentinel, another OSINT tool.

The Malaysian researchers, however, concluded that the neem leaves and bitter leaves, alongside two other medicinal plants tested collectively, exhibited pleiotropic effects which could potentially provide a multimodal approach via antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects in COVID-19 management.

“At present, it is evidently challenging to pool data from published studies due to variation in extracts selection and a lack of well-reported standardisation data of the investigated formulations. Still, it is quite clear that there is insufficient evidence of direct antiviral effects specific to the SARS-CoV-2.

“Further investigations on differential anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects, as well as quality and safety of herbal medicines, are required to ascertain their role in COVID-19 management.”

Analysis of the Twitter accounts investigated using BotSentinel.

Earlier, fact-checks by the BBC News Pidgin and the AFP had debunked claims that the neem leaves could knock out the COVID-19 infection from the human body.

Similarly, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on its website emphatically stated that consuming ginger would not prevent or cure COVID-19.

“Consuming ginger—whether by eating the ginger root, drinking ginger tea, taking ginger capsules, or sniffing or adding the ginger powder to your food—will not prevent or fight a coronavirus infection,” it stated.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there is no scientific evidence that covering yourself with a quilt during high fever and drinking ginger soup would prevent COVID-19.

In addition, “there is no scientific evidence that black pepper, honey and ginger protect from COVID-19 infection. In general, however, some spices are considered to have properties that may be beneficial for health.”

However, WHO recommends the consumption of adequate fruits and vegetables as a part of a healthy diet.

An Infectious Disease Physician at the University of Jos Teaching Hospital Nathan Shehu told the Voice of America, “It is a fact that herbal remedies are available and could be effective in the management of COVID-19, but it is important that before they’re deployed for such purposes, they should undergo elaborate trials to validate whether they are functional or not because you’re dealing with human lives.”

Is Nigeria ready to approve the use of herbal medicines for COVID-19 prevention or cure?

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said it was working assiduously with other government agencies in the quest to end the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

“The development of therapeutics is a long and strenuous process that requires great attention to detail and huge investments. It is very difficult to start this from the scratch during a pandemic.

“We are fully committed to supporting local initiatives that meet safety and other related requirements. This has been emphasised by the Directors-General of NAFDAC and the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), whose agencies have the mandate for drug development.

“We will continue to support validated scientific outputs led on and carried out by Nigerians,” NCDC’s Head of Response Division Aderinola Olaolu, a doctor, told The ICIR.

Conclusion

The claims that neem leaves, bitter leaves, ginger and Tagiri can prevent or cure COVID-19 are FALSE! There is no credible scientific evidence to support such claims currently.

This publication was produced as part of IWPR’s Africa Resilience Network (ARN) programme, administered in partnership with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), and Africa Uncensored. For more information on ARN, please visit the ARN site.

Republished from The ICIR.

Reports that INEC has nullified Anambra APC primaries are FALSE

Niyi Oyedeji
-
0
Reports that INEC has nullified Anambra APC primaries are FALSE

FEW days after the Anambra state All Progressives Congress (APC) held its primary election, news circulated online claiming Nigeria’s electoral regulator, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has nullified it.

The  reports which were backed by a press release allegedly from INEC where published on blogs trixxng.com, IgbereTv and  also on the  Nairaland Forum.

“The All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship primary elections which held on June 26, 2021, has been nullified by the Independent National Electoral Commission,” the news read on IgbereTV.

THE CLAIM

INEC nullifies Anambra APC primaries

THE FINDINGS

Findings show that the claim is FALSE.

The Anambra APC had on Saturday, June 26, held its primary election, in which a former Senator who represented Anambra South Senatorial District, Andy Ubah, was declared the winner.

However, the claim that the INEC has nullified the election could neither be seen on INEC official website nor its Facebook page, where it publishes such announcements.

Similarly, the FactCheckHub reached out to Rotimi  Oyekanmi, the Media Adviser/Chief Press Secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, who said he news is FALSE.

“INEC has not nullified any primary election in Anambra,” Oyekanmi told The FactCheckHub.

He also added that the press release in circulation did not emanate from INEC.

“We did not issue any such press release” he noted.

THE VERDICT

The reports that INEC has nullified Anambra APC primaries are FALSE.

 

 

Do raw onions, garlic cure COVID-19?

Olugbenga ADANIKIN
-
0
Do raw onions, garlic cure COVID-19?

A viral video shared on multiple social media platforms, including WhatsApp groups in Nigeria, claimed that the consumption of raw onions and garlic was capable of treating coronavirus (COVID-19).

Based on the unproven claim, the virus would die once the vegetables – onions and garlic- were consumed as smoothies.

The other interesting part of the claim was the advice to the Nigerian public to slice the onions or garlic and place them at the corners of individuals’ homes.

Interestingly, these were some of the several unproven claims shared a few months after the outbreak of COVID-19 out of desperation for a cure, yet they did not have any scientific backing or validation. Most Nigerians at home and abroad were bombarded with similar claims. Thus, sharing the claims especially on WhatsApp became new normal.

WhatsApp claim that Onion prevents COVID-19 when placed in rooms

Prominent people such as the traditional ruler Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, further made public statements on herbal alternatives that could supposedly fortify the people against COVID-19.

Apart from the first-class traditional ruler,  a former Chairman of Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) Maurice Iwu,  a professor, also announced his herbal discovery against the disease. Besides, one other Ben Amodu, a doctor, claimed his herbs could cure throat cancer. He claimed that his herbal medicine could prevent the coronavirus disease. He is among a list of several others. Some of the claims have been removed by social media firms.

The Federal Government of Nigeria,  a few months the outbreak of the virus, considered meeting practitioners of traditional (herbal) medicines, since there was no cure at that period. This was because  different local concoctions against COVID-19 were being championed by various individuals and groups.

Director-General of the National Agency for Food, Drugs and Administration (NAFDAC) Mojisola Adeyeye, a professor, finally told the public of plans to consider some of the herbs for studies. That was in May, 2020. By September, the Nigerian government had inaugurated a Ministerial Committee on COVID-19 Herbal Remedies to provide a possible home-grown cure.

Meanwhile, since the disease outbreak in Wuhan, China, almost four milliion persons have died globally due to the pandemic. As of June 24, 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said there were close to 180 million confirmed cases. Yet, the number has continued to rise amidst vaccine hesitancy.

This reporter reached out to NAFDAC to verify if any home-grown solution had eventually been developed and certified as a possible alternative, but no response was provided by the government agency.

The Deputy Director for Media and Public Relations at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) Ekwui Ubah could also not provide a response. Director-General of the institute Obi Adigwe asked this reporter to send a text message but as of the time of filing this report, no response was provided after repeated calls.

Claim verification through OSINT

The ICIR was able to track how the WhatsApp message went viral on Twitter. Using Tweetdeck, which helps in real-time Twitter tracking, several persons who got a similar message on Twitter attributed the source to WhatsApp.

“Please all fathers and mothers, go get your garlic and onions,” the original claim read in part.

“It is good and it kills the virus. It is good for protection,” the claim source said in a blend of Yoruba, a local language spoken typically by the Yoruba ethnic group, mostly resident in South-West Nigeria.

“Use a knife to cut it and put it in your room. If you have 10 rooms, put them in your 10 rooms. Put it in your living rooms, toilets, kitchen at the corners my brethren.

“Go and get your onions as many as possible. Get it and use it raw any day, anytime and any hour. Blend and use the water for protection,” the claimant stressed as she dramatically appealed to the public with strong self-conviction.”

False claim shared on Twitter says Onion could prevent COVID-19.

By March 23, 2020, the claim had found its way to Twitter users in the United Kingdom from Nigeria. Temmyturner @t3mmyturn3rr shared the information, saying her mother put an onion in the corner of every room in the house. She attributed her mother’s action to WhatsApp, emphasising that platform advised the mother to do so.

“This is the peak of the WhatsApp mother’s cult…” The Twitter user tweeted pictures of the sliced onions to validate her statement. The tweet garnered over 227, 000 reactions with several other comments such as “WhatsApp must be stopped.” This came from a verified Twitter user @Cesar Vargas.

MissEllss @elishanicole86 added to the thread that onion was often used during plagues to prevent disease spread. Yaw Sedi @Dat_Hoodguy also shared his experience of how he heard two women say COVID-19 could be “sucked out of the atmosphere when airborne by placing onions in each room of the house.”

Using Hoaxy, an Open Source Investigation Tool (OSINT) , this reporter was able to analyse the flow of misinformation on Twitter regarding the use of garlic and onions for COVID-19 cure.

Based on the findings, the tweet originated from a Twitter user identified as Kim @NanaLuvsShoes. The handle  joined the social media platform in January 2010 and has grown followers’ base to about 25,000 while following almost 24, 000 persons.

From the tweets and retweets, the  user seemed to be a supporter of former President of the United States Donald Trump. Trump is a Republican, and the former president was among those who shared false information on the pandemic.

American CNBC, in October 2020, reported how Trump initially described COVID-19 spread in the US as fake news that was hyped by media conspiracy.

A study by new Cornell University also named Trump as the biggest source of COVID-19 misinformation.

How WhatsApp is pushing misinformation

Since the virus broke out in Wuhan China, in December 2019, social media, especially WhatsApp, has remained a major conveyance of misinformation. With a button, users of the platform could easily share unverified information considered important. While some of the information is deliberately fabricated for financial gain (disinformation) such as phishing, scams, others are shared ignorantly by users of the social media platform (misinformation).

For instance, at the peak of the disease spread in Nigeria, special messages were sent via the platform to lure the public. Few of those included claims that telecommunication networks were sharing free data as palliatives to support their subscribers.

In related cases, social media users were enticed by supposed grants from prominent Nigerian businessmen and the Federal Government. Still, most of the viral claims were found to be false.

WHO’s position on the consumption of garlic to prevent COVID-19

Among the WHO’s myth busters, the global health organisation disproved the claim. While garlic was described “as healthy food that contains anti-microbial properties,” there is no evidence from the current outbreak that garlic has protected people from the new coronavirus.

Director of Department of Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness and a doctor at the WHO Sylvie Briand,  in a video interview with Vismita Gypta-Smith of the WHO Communications Department, further dispelled the garlic claim among other unproven assertions on the pandemic.

She particularly warned against excess intake of garlic.

“Some studies are studying it (consumption of garlic as COVID-19 cure) but again, we need to really cross-check the different studies before making any recommendation about garlic.”

Medical experts’ opinion

A Public Health Expert Nonso Umeh recognised the efficacy of the vegetables in immune-boosting against ailment such as flu but said they lacked scientific evidence as COVID-19 cure.

Umeh, who works with a partner organisation with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health – Africa Resource Centre for Excellence in Supply Chain Management -affirmed the vaccines were developed to protect against a specific disease, stressing that conspiracy theories against vaccine dated back to ages.

“It does not cure COVID-19 but only boosts the immune system,” said Umeh. “If people believe that, it means every other similar vegetable such as ginger and ‘ugu’ can cure the disease.”

He expressed hope in change of public attitude once the public began to see benefits of the vaccine. He cited the Oral Polio Vaccine and Yellow Fever Vaccine as notable examples of shots initially rejected but later accepted.

An Assistant Research Professor at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Centre for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Virotherapy, Jeffrey Langland believed that herbs that appeared to have worked against other infections must undergo testing if they could fight COVID-19. “This one is a little bit more of a dangerous virus,” he told Healthline, a website managed by a group of medical professionals in the United States.

But Professor of Virology Bola Oyefolu, in his opinion, said there were several herbs with potential to cure different ailments, apart from the use of vaccines. He said once people used certain herbs and it worked for them, it should be subjected to further scientific studies.

Though he said it would be too early to make an authoritative conclusion on potency of the fruit plant, he described garlic and onion as anti-microbial.

“I’m a virologist, and you know virology is under microbiology. So, the issue is there are several things you could use against viruses which we call ‘antiviral.’ There are lots of herbs and other things aside from vaccine.

“Long before now, our local people used different medications, combinations of different herbs to cure any kind of disease. Some of them, we may not have tried in the laboratory.”

Besides, he cited a plant known scientifically as Adenopus breviflorus (Christmas Melon), which he realised could be capable of preventing measles among infants. The plant is known as ‘Ogbenwa’ in Igbo, ‘Tagiri’ in Yoruba and ‘Tagiri Shuka’ in Hausa. He decided to share his personal experience to say local herbs were potential cures for certain ailments.

Growing up as a kid, he recalled that his aged father often picked the fruit plants and placed them at corners of the room to prevent measles infection. Having grown to become a virologist, he decided to subject the plants to test and got a substantial outcome through preliminary research.

“One day, I was working on a study on measles disease, and I remembered what the plant my dad normally used to prevent the disease spread. In preliminary research, I took the Itagiri to the laboratory to see if it would help. The majority of these herbs are not proven scientifically as I said but what I have done is what I am sharing.”

Narrating his experience, he said he cut the fruit into two, scooped off the seeds, separated them into three layers. “I matched the seeds, the little thin layer and the outermost layer separately. And tested it against the measles virus, and I found out that the outermost layer with green patches had a very high potency effect against measles virus in the laboratory.”

“I did some other chemical analysis to see further results. So, if I want to name it, I will call it Tagirin, but until then, the preliminary study showed that when placed in a room, the essential oil in the Itagiri caused inhibition of the measles virus to attach into the nostril.

“So because I worked on that, I can only explain the details of that, but for those who use garlic and onions, I can only speculate because I have not worked on it.  There is a tendency in it but the potency may be exaggerated.”

Here and here are similar studies on the fruit plant. But, he concluded that for any medical study to gain meaningful recognition, it must have been published in high-impact journals.

However, as he admitted, based on the multiple findings in this report, there is no scientific evidence to validate that garlic and onion could prevent or cure COVID-19.

This publication was produced as part of IWPR’s Africa Resilience Network (ARN) programme in partnership with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), and Africa Uncensored.

Republished from International Centre for Investigative Reporting

Will salt water gargling, nose rinsing wash COVID-19 away?

Bamas Victoria
-
0
Will salt water gargling, nose rinsing wash COVID-19 away?

A man in a video that went viral prescribed a salt solution as a cure for COVID-19.

He said rinsing the nose and gargling salt water is the treatment.

He did not make reference to any clinical trials or structure for this treatment.

He, however, said it was recommended to him and his wife by a doctor when they tested positive for the COVID-19. And four days after using it, they got cured.

“I tested positive—me and my wife—for COVID-19. We called the doctor and told him this is what is happening and he said, ‘No, it is not a deadly disease’. He said, ‘What you should do: take some salt in a spoon and take a half glass of water, put the salt in the glass of water….”

The man did not state who the doctor is, nor did he provide any verifiable evidence. He, however, referenced a religious text where a prophet made use of a salt  to cure or treat some water causing ailments.

The man also alleged that his daughter and granddaughter in the US, whom he recommended the treatment to, tested negative after a few days.

The same applied to his sister in Swaziland and a doctor’s mother in East London. All got cured after using his treatment.

In the 4 minutes and 43 seconds-long video, the man said he was prompted to share this remedy when his sister called him to take her to the hospital as she could not “breathe”.

Instead, he recommended the solution to her, which she applied and within 30 minutes she got relief.

“And within two days, she was okay. She is back to work now,” he said.

The salt solution

According to him, the salt solution is done by adding a spoon of salt to a half glass of water for nose rinsing.

A similar solution is done for gargling, except, this time, the water has to be warm.

…but does it cure COVID-19?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its myth busters section stated that saline (mixture of water and salt) does not cure the COVID-19.

The health body stated, “There is no evidence that regularly rinsing the nose with saline has protected people from infection with the new coronavirus.”

It, however, says,  “There is some limited evidence that regularly rinsing the nose with saline can help people recover more quickly from the common cold. However, regularly rinsing the nose has not been shown to prevent respiratory infections.”

Furthermore, the MIT Medicals (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in its coronavirus update also stated there was no evidence that gargling warm water with salt or a vinegar solution prevented infection with COVID-19.

The WHO graphics card debunking the use of salt as COVID-19 prevention.

A professor in Medical Microbiology and an expert in the management of infectious hazards, Adebola Olayinka when contacted in February and shown the video, explained that saline sprays as a medical treatment has been used for decades especially for children to reduce congestion on the nose.

“If someone has a blocked nose and there is mucus,  putting the saline spray can relieve the person of the congestion”, she noted.

As to this man’s claim of it healing COVID-19, she said “I have my doubts”.

She explained that people who have COVID-19  alongside cough and nasal congestions may get relief from the nasal infection if they use the saline spray. However, it does not mean that they have become COVID-19 negative.

“I think the danger is equating absence of symptoms to being cured of COVID-19. The symptoms might be relieved but that person is still infectious and is able to transmit the infection”.

Other misinformation around the use of salt

The MIT Medicals also added that this “cure” was popular during the spread of SARS, MERS, and Zika as well — and was equally useless then.

The use of salt was also prevalent in Nigeria during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. This led to fatal results, with many people hospitalised for salt poisoning almost more than with Ebola infection itself. The use of drinking and bathing with salt water was reported to have been started by a student as a prank.

A study  published in 2019 about the 2014 misinformation found that 52 per cent of people who used salt water did it because they felt there was no harm in trying it, while 39 per cent said it was because they saw some health officials doing same.

Study on salt solution and the cure for coronavirus

A study  led by Professor Aziz Sheikh and Dr Sandeep Ramalingam at the University of Edinburgh, known as the Edinburgh and Lothians Viral Intervention Study, or Elvis, recruited healthy adults within two days of them contracting a type of upper respiratory tract infection commonly known as a cold.

The control group treated the cold as they normally would. The other group was asked to gargle and rinse their nasal passages with a salt solution at will.

The researchers found that 95% of those who gargled with salt water and used nasal irrigation reduced their illness by 1.9 days, because the virus cleared faster, they were less likely to spread the common cold.

Therefore, the researchers are re-examining the study to check if its benefits may also extend to COVID-19 patients, and they are calling it the  ELVIS COVID-19 Study.

A promotional video on the website reads, “COVID-19 causes fever, cough and other symptoms. The ELVIS COVID-19 study is to find out if you will get better quicker by rinsing the nose and gargling with salt water.”

As at the time of this report the study is still ongoing and the call is still on for participants.

A search result of the video using google image reverse search tool.

Who is spreading the misinformation?

In trying to determine the ‘message zero’, the first person to have shared it on WhatsApp was traced to February 2021, when it was shared by a retired director from the Nigerian civil service. However, the end-to-end encryption and privacy policies, coupled with limited time, made the attempt futile.

A search on the web using Invid fake news debunker, which broke the video into frames and the frames along with keywords “Salt cure covid”, reversed searched using Google reverse image tool, produced nine results from six sources.

The videos were posted on Facebook and they were all pages.  Three of the pages are dedicated to health, beauty & herbal remedy [Vicky Gold, Wholesale Alkaline Fruits, vegetables & herbs,  BeckytaTV], while one is a support page [Tell Tessys Inspirational Corner], another is a blogging page [Jenny’s Talk Show] and the other [Enogie Ekunwe] was not stated. Further search also brought out another [Milly Beauty Products].

Using ‘whereisthatnumberfrom’, a  web application  lookup tool that helps users check the country and area of phone number, the phone numbers associated with the pages turned out to be from Germany [Inspiration], Ghana [wholesale] and Zambia [Milly Beauty].

Some of the pages have phone numbers associated with different countries.

This suggests that the video was circulated in multiple other countries aside Nigeria.

Five of the posts were made at different points in February while the sixth one was in June.

As at June 30, the latter has garnered over 18,000 views and 79 comments, generally thanking the poster. Only one comment stated to proceed with caution to avoid “aspiration pneumonia”.

Most of the pages posted it as some form of herbal remedy.

The use of herbal remedy and home-made remedy in Nigeria is not uncommon.

As the race to create vaccines for coronavirus is ongoing, multiple influential leaders in Nigeria and Africa are promoting herbal medicines and remedies.

One of Nigeria’s most influential traditional rulers, Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in collaboration with a herbal company in February unveiled herbal drugs for the treatment of coronavirus.

The monarch said the Federal Government was aware of the drug and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) had approved it.

However, the drugs, Verozil, Bitter Leaf Capsule, Vision Pro and Rio Capsule, were not found on the NAFDAC registered product database as at the time of this report.

Furthermore, the agency said the herbal product Verozil, announced as a cure for COVID-19, was only an immune booster, and listed as such accordingly because it was yet to be found to be effective against the virus, as clinical trial evidence was yet to be provided.

The governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, who was reported to have contracted COVID-19, a few days later came out to say he was negative. He stated that he  consumed Vitamin C, carrots and black seed oil mixed with honey to boost his immune system to overcome the virus while in isolation.

Even though the governor stated it was an immune booster, this was interpreted in some quarters as cure for the virus.

The video as posted on different Facebook pages.

Nigeria’s stand on use of herbal drugs for COVID-19

After receiving her vaccine injection, the Director-General of NAFDAC,  Mojisola Adeyeye, told the press,  “I believe in herbal medicine. Herbal medicine that is not backed up by research may be effective, but we don’t know.

“Especially for COVID-19 vaccine, herbal medicine has to be antiviral. It is not enough that it relieves cold, cough etc., it has to be antiviral.

“We have approved about 14 for listing, meaning they are safe to use, but how efficacious, it is when you do a clinical trial that you will know. Also, it is very costly to do clinical trials.

“Of course, we would have given them listing, but they will go further for a clinical trial. We are still expecting such. I will not be surprised if we have a herbal medicine that has antiviral against COVID-19.”

This is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. The Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine scholar, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Yichang Yang, said clinical trials were needed before the approval of any herbal medicine.

“More evidence is required through controlled clinical trials to support the efficacy of these herbal drugs,” Yang said.

“Many traditional medicine practitioners believe that herbal remedies cannot be tested because they are tailored to each individual’s syndromes. This argument is simply not convincing,” he explained.

This publication was produced as part of IWPR’s Africa Resilience Network (ARN) programme, administered in partnership with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), the International Centre for Investigative Reporting  (ICIR), and Africa Uncensored. 

Study links narratives to COVID 19 vaccine disinformation in Africa

Bamas Victoria
-
0
Study links narratives to COVID 19 vaccine disinformation in Africa

A new report from First Draft, an organisation working to check the spread of fake news says foreign narratives and conspiracy theories, contributed to COVID-19 misinformation in the West African region.

According to the report  published in June 2021, using advanced mis and dis-information strategies, the spread of fake news took a new dimension such that it undermines public trust in several recognised institutions in the region.

The report monitored ‘popular narratives’ of vaccine-related contents entering West Africa through media and social media, majorly on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram from September 2020 to March 2021.

The West African region comprises 16 countries; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

“Through our monitoring and research, one finding stood out: Foreign narratives and conspiracy theories – initially developed and popularised in North America – are taking hold in West Africa, further eroding trust in institutions in the region,” the report reads in part.

No evidence mRNA COVID-19 vaccines reduce lifespan

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, social media has been filled with unproven claims of prevention and cure that ranges from the consumption of Banana, inhaling of steams, the intake of Garlic, Lemon and even onions.

On May 7, 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) approved the use of the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use after initial approval of Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum including Moderna, and COVAX.

So far, over 2.5 billion vaccines have been administered across 180 nations with 41.7 million doses administered daily, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.

In Nigeria, as of June 1, 2021  1,956,598 people have received the first dose of the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine, amidst vaccine hesitancy among the populace.

However, based on key findings in the report, some of the false claims identified include assertions that Gates and the WHO were using vaccines to depopulate Africa; UN forced to admit that Gates-funded vaccine was causing polio outbreak in Africa; Western actors and international institutions are untrustworthy and their vaccines are not safe.

The findings in this report show how North American and European conspiracy theories and content from pro-Russian disinformation networks are moving into West Africa. Conspiracy theories and misleading claims around vaccines from abroad are commingling with pre-existing anti-Western vaccine narratives in the region, further polluting its information ecosystem.

The report authored by Carlotta Dotto and Seb Cubbon also noted that the French disinformation networks are using “manipulation and artificial amplification techniques to enable messages stemming from pro-Russian sources to reach Francophone West African communities. These messages are designed to erode trust in key actors and institutions connected to vaccines, such as Bill Gates, the WHO and the UN.”

The reports recommended  that the greater emphasis should be to identify “problematic behaviour on social media as against monitoring, and moderating individual pieces of content.”

Social Media firms were advised to deploy fact-checking measures, and most importantly, the measures should be applied regularly across languages and regions.

Part of the recommendations is to also design proactive messages that could counter wrong narratives, ideas that promote vaccine hesitancy rather than waiting for third-party to fact-check the misinformation.

The report further suggested “special messages that could address deep-seated issues of trust,” such that health experts, government institutions and those against the COVID-19 vaccinations could reach a common front on the vaccine.

And lastly, according to the research outcome, there is a need for Facebook to provide journalists and researchers with better access to data to enable easy and deeper study on both mis and dis-information.

“This will ultimately allow health policy or communication experts to more effectively target and counter falsehoods surrounding Covid-19 vaccines.”

Punitive laws failing to curb misinformation in Africa – Study

Editorial
-
0
Punitive laws failing to curb misinformation in Africa – Study

Report by:  Peter Cunliffe-Jones, University of Westminster; Alan Finlay, University of the Witwatersrand, and Anya Schiffrin

Misinformation, best understood as false or misleading information whether or not it was intended to mislead, has long been recognised as a problem worldwide. Together with disinformation, which is spread deliberately to misinform or mislead, it constitutes a key part of the information disorder distorting public debate around the world.

Concern about the effects of misinformation on individuals and society has grown globally since 2016, when it was seen by many commentators as driving the political upheavals of Brexit in the UK and the election of Donald Trump in the US.

In Africa, interest in the subject grew in particular after news emerged of disinformation campaigns run by Bell Pottinger, the British PR firm, on behalf of the Gupta family that stirred up racial tensions in South Africa in 2016 as a counter-narrative to the growing public anger at the family’s central role in grand corruption and state capture.

In Nigeria, concern about disinformation rose after news emerged of the role that disinformation orchestrated by the UK political consultancy Cambridge Analytica played in its 2015 election. Similarly in Kenya, when the firm supported the campaign of President Uhuru Kenyatta in elections two years later.

With concern rising among politicians and the public, governments around the world have since 2016 passed a flurry of laws and regulations
penalising the publication or broadcast of what is deemed to be “false information.”

In our study we examined the changes made to laws and regulations relating to the publication of “false information” in 11 sub-Saharan countries between 2016 and 2020. We also looked at how they correlate with misinformation, to understand the role they may play in reducing harm caused by misinformation.

We found that while these laws have a chilling effect on political and media debate, they do not reduce misinformation harm. This matters as the laws curtail public debate, yet fail to curb the harmful effects of misinformation.

‘False information’ laws

We first identified laws and regulations relating to “false information” in a sample of 11 countries laws – large and small, Anglophone and Francophone – from across sub-Saharan Africa. The countries studied between 2016 and 2020 were Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.

We then compared the terms of the laws passed with what is known about the types, drivers and effects of misinformation. This was based on studying 1,200 claims identified as false by one or more of 14 fact-checking organisations in Africa. Finally, we assessed the effects of the laws’ enforcement.

In our research report, we found that in the 11 countries studied, the number of laws against “false information” almost doubled from 17 to 31 from 2016 to 2020.

The problem we identified is that these laws restrict freedom of speech. And they don’t reduce the actual – or potential harm – that misinformation causes.

This tells us that the punitive approach does not appear to work.

By contrast, an approach favouring better access to accurate information and correction of false information may do so.

Describing the “chilling effect” that the laws have had on public debate in Uganda, an analyst in Uganda told us

Self-censorship has increased in the recent past due to the state’s continued arbitrary application of the law.

Punitive approach

First, we found, the majority of laws related to “false information” took a punitive approach. They were not seeking to correct the false information or facilitate improved access to accurate information. Their aim was to punish publication with fines and terms in prison of up to 10 years.

Second, one third of the laws studied – from the Code du Numérique (2018) in Benin to the Broadcasting Code of Conduct in Nigeria (2016) – require no evidence that the allegedly false information caused or risked any form of harm, for its publication to be declared an offence. Six other laws punished “crimes” not recognised under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ Article 19 on Freedom of Expression. An example is the “annoyance” of ministers.

Together, more than half the laws are thus not related to reducing harm as recognised by international law.

Third, we found that how law courts should determine what information is “false”, or what constitutes “harm”, is in general not defined. Decisions are, therefore, arbitrary and open to political abuse.

Our study found the majority of those punished under these laws are opposition politicians or journalists. Not one was a government official or a politician from the ruling party. This does not correlate with what we know of misinformation and the role of some politicians in contributing to the problem.

Fourth, we found the laws take effect on a tiny scale compared to the cases of misinformation in circulation. The Disinformation Tracker project, set up in 2020 to study the implementation of laws on misinformation and disinformation, found that just 12 “law enforcement actions” were taken in three months in the 11 countries. Only one quarter of these actions had an “objectively legitimate aim”.

This pales in comparison to the hundreds of cases of misinformation tackled by the growing number of fact-checking organisations in Africa, and the millions of content moderation decisions made worldwide by tech platforms daily, many of which made to counter misinformation.

Where laws or regulations are used to prevent the continuing spread of genuinely harmful misinformation, as in cases we examined in Uganda and South Africa, it’s plausible they may directly reduce harm.

But, our study suggests these cases are the exception, not the rule.

What works against misinformation

Our study shows that the punitive legislative approach is not working, and suggests alternative approaches can be more effective.

This includes efforts seen across the continent to improve access to accurate information. Examples include setting up an independent watchdog of the quality of official statistics, as exists in the UK, and an independent body to ensure public access to that data, as in South Africa.

This is essential to counter misinformation.

It can be seen in the “right of reply” written into legislation in Malawi, that obliges broadcasters to air “counter-versions” from “entities affected by an assertion of fact” if the “fact” can be shown to be false.

It can also be seen in a new and improved press code in Senegal. Introduced in 2017, it requires all news operations to observe a code of professional ethics. This includes a focus on verification, with work overseen by an independent regulatory body.

Another approach is enabling the growth of independent fact-checking organisations seen across the continent in recent years. These alternative approaches can reduce the harm that misinformation causes, without reducing free speech.

Assane Diagne, director of Reporters Without Borders for West Africa and lecturer at the L’Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme, des Métiers de l’Internet et de la Communication in Dakar, Senegal, was part of the research team.The Conversation

Peter Cunliffe-Jones, Visiting Researcher & Co-Director Chevening African Media Freedom Fellowship, University of Westminster; Alan Finlay, Lecturer: Journalism and Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, and Anya Schiffrin, Director, Technology, Media, and Communications specialization, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Was N37bn approved for the renovation of the National Assembly complex?

Niyi Oyedeji
-
0
Was N37bn approved for the renovation of the National Assembly complex?

ON TUESDAY, June 22, 2021 the media reported  that the roof of the National Assembly complex in Nigeria was leaking and the building flooded following a rainfall.

A video of  cleaners scooping water from the floor of the complex was also shared on Twitter.

These reports generated reactions on social media with a number of people stating the National Assembly complex got  N37bn for its renovation.

READ ALSO: Has CBN authorised the use of cryptocurrency ‘like naira’?

Reacting to one of the reports, a Twitter user, Morris Monye [@Morris_Monye] stated that a sum of N37bn was approved and paid in 2020 for the National Assembly to be renovated.

Monye tweeted “For context, N37,000,000,000.00 (Thirty seven Billion naira only) was approved and paid in 2020 for the National Assembly complex to be renovated. Nigerians shouted and shouted back then on Twitter and forgot after a month”.

Another Twitter user, Wale Adetona [@iSlimfit] also tweeted that the building is leaking less than a year after it got N37bn  for renovation.

He wrote “What happened to the N37bn approved to renovate the National Assembly in 2020? It’s not even a year yet and the structure is leaking when rain falls. This country truly deserves a YouTube channel.”

A Twitter user misleading reaction to a news report.

THE CLAIM

N37bn was approved for the renovation of the National Assembly complex in 2020.

THE FINDINGS

Findings by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is not completely accurate.

In 2019, the President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari approved  N37bn for the renovation of the National Assembly complex.

This sum which was included in the 2020 budget is different from the N128bn allocated for the National Assembly in the 2020 Budget.

READ ALSO: Is Nigeria the largest producer of cassava in the world?

The N37bn was included in the 2020 budget of the Federal Capital Development Administration (FCDA).

However, in 2020, the Federal Government slashed the initially approved budget allocation by 75 per cent, thereby reducing the N37bn to N9.25bn.

This, therefore means it is misleading to claim that the the amount for the renovation of complex is N37bn since it has been reduced to N9.25bn.

National Assembly’s response

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs Ajibola Basiru in statement clarified that N37bn is not the sum approved for the renovation of the National Assembly Complex.

Basiru said “While it is true that an initial appropriation of the above stated sum was made due to the decaying nature of the complex which has not witnessed any major maintenance or overhauling since construction, the said amount was reduced to N9 billion after the breakout of COVID-19 pandemic.

“Even with this reduction, the sum of N9 billion or any amount is yet to be cash backed or released to the National Assembly. None of this amount is even appropriated for the National Assembly bureaucracy or its leadership,” he stated.

The National Assembly complex houses the Senate and the House of Representatives chambers.

THE VERDICT

The claim that N37bn was approved for the renovation of the National Assembly complex in 2020 is MISLEADING this is  because the N37bn which was initially approved was eventually slashed down to N9.25bn.

Picture depicting Buhari’s visit to Borno is from 2019

Niyi Oyedeji
-
0
Picture depicting Buhari’s visit to Borno is from 2019

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, June 17, 2021 visited Borno State on a one-day working visit. Although the president was greeted by a crowd the venue, however, an old, unrelated picture has been shared online to depict the president visit to the state.

Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage & Water Resources Joe Igbokwe on Thursday, took to his Facebook page to share five pictures, saying they all emanated from the president’s visit to Borno.

“No He is not campaigning, he is just on an official visit. No Nigerian leader alive can attract people in a way he does. Only PMB can do this,” his post read.

READ ALSO: How scam, fraudulent actors take advantage of COVID-19

A screenshot of the Facebook post with the old image starred.

THE CLAIM

The picture of crowd in an open space is of Buhari’s  visit to Borno state in June 2021.

The old image circulated online as recent.

THE FINDINGS

Checks by The FactCheckHub show that one of the pictures emanated from the President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign visit to Jos, Plateau State in 2019.

Google Reverse Image search revealed that the picture was from Buhari’s campaign visit to Borno State on January 19, 2019 as reported here.

This is not the first time Igbokwe will be passing an old photo as new. Earlier in June he shared  photos from 2019 as an event that happened in 2021 in relation to the greenfield students abduction. This was debunked.

THE VERDICT

The picture of the crowd in an open space is not of Buhari’s recent visit to Borno but of his 2019 campaign visit to Jos, thereby making the claim MISLEADING.

READ ALSO: Riding on WhatsApp, scam sites soar in wake of COVID-19

Has CBN authorised the use of cryptocurrency ‘like naira’?

Olugbenga ADANIKIN
-
0
Has CBN authorised the use of cryptocurrency ‘like naira’?

IN June 2021 a post which alleged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has authorised the use of cryptocurrency “like the naira in Nigeria” was circulated online.

The uncredited post which was shared multiple times on WhatsApp noted that the apex bank has concluded plans to introduce cryptocurrency before the end of 2021.

The complete story was inaccessible except readers click on a hyperlink titled – ‘get the full story on phoenix’, Phoenix is an internet browser.  After its download, the complete story opens.

THE CLAIM

That the CBN has authorised the use of cryptocurrency as a legal tender like Naira in the country.

The inaccurate report.

THE FINDINGS

The CBN’s acting Director of Corporate Communications Osita Nwanisobi told the FactCheckHub that it is false.

He said, “Nobody authorised anything of such”.

Nwanisobi, however, noted that plans are underway by the apex bank to unveil its digital currency before the end of 2021.

READ LATEST FACT-CHECKS HERE

Earlier, on June 11, at the end of the 306th Bankers’ Committee meeting, the CBN’s Director of Information Technology Department Rakiya Mohammed had announced plans by the bank to unveil a digital currency, the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

The CBDC is fundamentally different from cryptocurrency in that it is a centralised and controlled currency.

The cryptocurrency which CBN described as “digital or virtual currencies issued by largely anonymous entities and secured by cryptography” is decentralised.  Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin are some examples of crypto.

The post as seen in a WhatsApp group.

CBDCs are digital currencies issued and governed by a country’s central bank, it is centralised and does not have the anonymity of cryptocurrency, as such they are not the same.

CBN’s view on cryptocurrency

The Nigerian government had restricted cryptocurrency transactions in the country.

On February 5, 2021, the CBN initiated policies discouraging Nigerians from transacting using the digital platform.

Two days after, on February 7, the bank justified further why Nigerians should be mindful of the digital currency, stressing that they are unregulated and unlicensed. They are also not recognised as legal tender in the country.

THE VERDICT

The claim that the CBN has authorised the use of cryptocurrency as a legal tender in the country is FALSE.

READ ALSO:  Is Nigeria the largest producer of cassava in the world?

Can eating Bananas prevent COVID-19 infection?

Opeyemi Kehinde
-
0
Can eating Bananas prevent COVID-19 infection?

A video has been circulating on multiple WhatsApp groups in Nigeria which claims that eating “a banana a day keeps the coronavirus away.” The video has been found to be doctored with false claims.

The video, which was produced in the form of a news broadcast clip, recommends that eating a banana a day could help prevent humans from being infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

For over 15 months, the video has been in circulation on various social media platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and until recently Twitter and WhatsApp platforms in Nigeria.

The video, which has been forwarded several times on WhatsApp between March 2021 and June 2021, was traced to a March 15, 2020 post on Facebook here using Google Reverse Image Search. It has been viewed over 2,700 times on the Facebook page and now circulates widely on WhatsApp.

READ MORE FACT-CHECKS HERE

It is one of the several videos spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 3.8million deaths with about 176million confirmed cases globally as of June 15, 2021, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). These numbers continue to rise daily.

The World Health Organization (COVID-19) Dashboard as of 15th June, 2021. PHOTO CREDITS: www.who.int

Since the outbreak of the disease in December 2019, many social media platforms, especially WhatsApp chat groups and Facebook, have become vehicles for spreading misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19.

Users are often asked to forward such messages to as many people as possible.

Some of such viral WhatsApp videos or texts include those claiming that drinking palm oil or hot water, tea several times daily can cure COVID-19, or that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can reduce lifespan, or that the Nigerian government is giving out COVID-19 survival funds. These, among others, have been debunked by the ICIR’s FactCheckHub.

THE BANANA CLAIM

The claim reads: “Bananas are one of the most popular fruits worldwide. such as Vitamin C. All of these support health. people who follow a high fibre diet have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Bananas contain water and fibre, both of which promote regularity and encourage digestive health.

“Research made by scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia have proven that bananas improve your immune system due to the super source of Vitamins B-6 and helps prevent coronavirus. Having a banana a day keeps the coronavirus away.”

A screenshot of the viral WhatsApp video showing the false claim.

The claim has been attributed to researchers from Australia’s University of Queensland, adding that they have discovered that bananas can help prevent COVID-19 infection.

Same video, same claim but many edited versions

The 58-second video, which shows a news report by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), with the same banana claim, has been edited severally especially by a TikTok user, @dil_ka_raja2020 and YouTuber to include these texts inscriptions: “Bananas can beat this virus, Must Watch”;  “Banana a day keeps the Coronavirus away.” He has over 12,000 followers with over 167,000 likes on his TikTok page.

Also, an edited 27-second version of the video posted from Pakistan on YouTube on 14th March, 2020 has also been viewed 318 times.

A screenshot of the fake video when analysed using an OSINT tool – InVid.

OSINT to the rescue

In verifying this video, this reporter utilised the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) tools to unravel the spread of this misinformation and authenticate the sources of the visuals put together in making the video.

Using keywords such as banana, COVID-19, this reporter used Hoaxy® to visualise the spread of the information on Twitter, as shown below:

The data show that texts containing the keywords have appeared in 465 tweets between 12th November, 2020 and 26th May, 2021, majorly from a Twitter user, @mb4hope. But the Twitter handle has been suspended and it is unclear why the social media platform has done that.

Similarly, this reporter used the Fake news debunker (image/video verification plugin) by InVID & WeVerify to analyse the visuals’ keyframes and contexts as well as its reverse image search tool to identify the sources of the various clips/images merged together in making the video.

The InVid tool helps journalists to verify contents posted on social media, especially when verifying videos and images.

Findings show that the video contains several footages from at least four different sources.

Keyframes analyses of the video using the Fake news debunker plugin by InVid.

The first footage in the video was truly from an ABC news clip that reported that researchers from Australia’s Queensland University were about to create a vaccine for the COVID-19. It was aired in January 2020.

Following a Google Reverse Image Search of this footage after extracting the keyframes using InVid – one of the OSINT tools – this reporter found the ABC news clip titled: “Race is on as Australian researchers rush to make coronavirus vaccine” on its official YouTube channel.

This reporter also discovered that the opening keyframes of the ABC News’ YouTube video (as shown on the LEFT screenshot) was similar to the first keyframe of the viral WhatsApp video (as shown on the RIGHT image). See the comparison of the two videos below as circled in red lines:

Screenshot of both video clips.

However, there was nowhere in the three-minute, 39-second ABC News (Australia) video where reference was made to bananas beating or preventing the COVID-19.

The Associated Press (AP) had earlier reached out via email to a University of Queensland spokesperson who confirmed that “the video is fake and said they strongly recommend people do not share it.”

Similarly, a Queensland University scientist Keith Chappell, who discussed the university’s efforts to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus in the ABC News video, had also told the AFP that the banana claim video “is definitely NOT true.”

In addition, video footage from the eight- to ten-second of the misleading WhatsApp video was seen on the Shutterstock videos website, using Reverse Image Search – another OSINT tool.

Further findings showed that the footages from the 12- to 23-second of the viral video were extracted from a YouTube clip made by Herbs Cures titled: “Health Benefits of Banana” and uploaded online on March 1, 2020.

Also, the ‘Herbs cures’ logo could be seen in the viral video. The ‘Herbs Cures’ video only listed the benefits of bananas and did not claim that bananas could prevent COVID-19 in the four -minute, thirty-eight second video.

Additional analysis also showed that the footages from the 24- to 31-second of the viral video were extracted from a news video published by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in February 2020 titled: “How Scientists Are Trying to Develop a Coronavirus Vaccine.”

The four-minute, seven-second WSJ video did not claim that bananas could beat or prevent COVID-19.

Moreover, the claim has been debunked by other fact-checking and media organisations here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Can any food or fruit prevent one from being infected with COVID-19?

According to WHO, “there is no single food that will prevent you from catching COVID-19,” but bananas have nutritional values.

A screenshot from the WHO website.

Although the global health body has a nutrition fact-sheet for healthy diets that protect against malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer, it said there was none that could protect anyone against COVID-19.

Scientists also advised that maintaining good nutritional status could help boost one’s immune system against COVID-19, adding that there was no evidence that any food or supplement would prevent infection or spread of the disease.

“Bananas are a fine fruit and garlic is a fine vegetable. But no. There are no clinical trials to suggest they have anti-coronavirus activity. Vitamin-C Is not even a fruit or a vegetable,” says an infectious diseases expert from the University of Maryland in the United States, Faheem Younus.

However, here are WHO-recommended steps to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.

CONCLUSION

The claim is FALSE! There is no credible evidence that eating bananas can beat or prevent COVID-19 infection.

The viral WhatsApp video was doctored from two news reports by the ABC News and WSJ respectively, as well as other video footages, to include references to bananas.

This publication was produced as part of IWPR’s Africa Resilience Network (ARN) programme, administered in partnership with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), and Africa Uncensored. For more information on ARN, please visit the ARN site.

1...134135136...166Page 135 of 166