Claim: Citi TV interview with Korle Bu CEO discredits confirmed coronavirus cases in Ghana
Source: Unknown
Verdict: Misleading
Researched by Rabiu Alhassan
A Citi TV video interview with the Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Daniel Asare in which he is heard announcing that two suspected coronavirus cases have proved negative following lab tests is not new.
The video is being widely circulated on social media including WhatsApp and Facebook to discredit the confirmed coronavirus cases recorded in Ghana and announced on March 12.
“Both individuals returned to Ghana from Norway and Turkey. So, these are imported cases of CONVID-19.” Ghana’s Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu confirmed at an emergency press conference on Thursday night.
However, following the misrepresentation of the viral Citi TV video, the management of Citi TV has in a statement called on the general public to disregard efforts to suggest that there is no confirmed coronavirus case in Ghana.
Citi TV Statement
According to the management of the station, the video in circulation is from an interview conducted on February 6, 2020, when the first two suspected cases were tested.
“Citi News has not had any new interview with Dr Daniel Asare since the latest cases were confirmed by the Minister of Health on Thursday, March 12.2020,” the statement further clarified.
Fact-check
GhanaFact chanced on the Citi TV video clip on WhatsApp and subsequently uploaded it on Invid video verification application.
The video was fragmented into keyframes and the images searched on google reverse image search engine.
This showed that the Citi TV video was first published on February 6 on the Citi 97.3 FM Facebook page with the title: “Coronavirus tests conducted by Noguchi Memorial Institute on two foreign Nationals prove negative.”
The video has since been viewed about 3,100 times, shared by 28 people and generated 13 comments.
“It is most unfortunate for somebody to deliberately take an old filed video and present it as if the hospital is trying to debunk the statement that was issued by the Health Minister on behalf of the government of Ghana,” Head of Public Relations at the Korle Bu Teaching hospital, Mustapha Salifu stated in an interview with GhanaFact.
