Claim: Ghana records more than 9,000 COVID-19 cases with over 400 deaths and 800 recoveries
Source: CGTN.com
Verdict: False
Researched by Rabiu Alhassan
The official website for China Global Television Network (CGTN) claims Ghana’s coronavirus cases are more than 9,000 with over 400 deaths.
CGTN.com further claims over 800 coronavirus patients in Ghana have recovered.
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But the claims are False.
GhanaFact was first alerted to the publication on Facebook after a screenshot of an article was posted on the timeline of a user who said: “This is how the Chinese media reported Ghana’s situation after we took delivery of [COVID-19] hospital supplies & [equipment] from them. Is this willful ignorance or they probably know something the rest of us don’t know.?”
We have since interviewed a Deputy Ministry of Information Pius Enam Hadzide and a Senior Correspondent at Xinhua News Agency, Justice Adoboe in producing a fact-check report.
GhanaFact has also sent an email to CGTN.com seeking for clarification on the source of their data and would duly update this report when they respond.
Fact-check
GhanaFact used Google search operators to comb the internet and track the source of the story using the key phrase “Ghana’s COVID-19 cases reach 9,000.”
The team limited its search to the four Chinese state media agencies- Xinhua, CGTN, China Radio International and China Daily following the hint by the Facebook user.
Our search showed CGTN.com published an online news article titled, “China sends medical supplies to 18 African countries” on April 7 and the third paragraph of the story said:
“Ghana is one of the 52 African countries that have recorded COVID-19 cases. Its confirmed COVID-19 cases have surpassed 9,000, with over 400 deaths. Over 800 patients have recovered.”
“It is false,” Deputy Information Minister, Pius Enam Hadzide said in an interview with GhanaFact and suggested, “Ghana will take it up with the Chinese embassy” in Accra.
The news article was produced by CGTN.com with input from Xinhua, another Chinese state news agency as clearly stated underneath the story.
“I believe they got the wording wrong. But what they were actually saying is the African statistics and not Ghana. And you also know that English is their second language and not their first language and so sometimes they make these slips.”A Senior Correspondent at Xinhua News Agency, Accra Bureau, Justice Adoboe who contributed in writing the story stated in an interview with GhanaFact.
Ghana’s total confirmed coronavirus cases stand at 566, with 8 deaths and 4 recoveries as of April 13, official government data shows.
The West African nation has a dedicated website to update citizens on the coronavirus spread statistics which is managed by the Ghana Health Service and as of April 7, Ghana’s total COVID-19 cases were 287, with 5 deaths and 3 recoveries.
Coronavirus in Africa
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases on the African continent is 14,497 with 788 deaths and 2,823 recoveries as of April 13 (07:00 GMT.)
The data is sourced from the Johns Hopkins University and visualized by the BBC on their Coronavirus in Africa tracker.
Conclusion
The claims by CGTN.com that COVID-19 cases in Ghana have surpassed 9,000 with over 400 deaths and over 800 recoveries are FALSE.
