SEVERAL Nigerian blogs on Monday, November 2, 2020 reported that the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Some of the blogs who published the report include Sahelstandard, Bioreports, Naijanews, Business247news and Sunrise.
The news blogs claimed that the DG disclosed his COVID-19 status via his official Twitter page.
“Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, has tested positive for Coronavirus.
“The DG of WHO announced his status in a series of tweets on his verified account,” says the Naijanews’ report.
THE CLAIM:
That the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, has tested positive for COVID-19.
THE FINDINGS:
The FactCheckHub checked the tweets made by the WHO DG, particularly the ones the bloggers relied on to write their report.
The WHO chief, Tedros Ghebreyesus, tweeted on his Twitter page on November 1, 2020 that he has been identified as a contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
Ghebreyesus did not, in any part of the tweets, said that he tested positive for COVID-19.
He only said he would self-quarantine over the coming days due to the development.
Similarly, the World Health Organization (WHO), had in a tweet on November 2, 2020 cleared air on the rumour surrounding the COVID-19 status of its DG.
WHO affirmed that Ghebreyesus hasn’t tested positive for COVID-19.
The FactCheckHub reports that the Ethiopian, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was elected as WHO Director-General for a five-year term by WHO Member States at the Seventieth World Health Assembly in May 2017.
THE VERDICT:
The claim is FALSE, as the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, has not tested positive for COVID-19; he only had contact with someone who tested positive for the disease.
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