South Sudan had recorded 481 COVID-19 cases by May 20, after the announcement of 134 new cases in Juba.
The post attributes this claim to the South Sudan National Taskforce Committee on COVID-19., However, data from the WHO shows that South Sudan had 282 COVID-19 cases and four deaths by May 20, rising to 339 and six deaths the following day. The country recorded its first COVID-19 case on April 5 when a 29-year-old female returning to the country from the Netherlands tested positive., By May 29, the country had registered 994 cases, 10 deaths and six recoveries., On May 18, the country’s First Vice President Riek Machar announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19, as did his wife Ms Angelina Teny, who also serves as the Minister of Defence., Mr Machar, his wife and 15 members of the National Taskforce on COVID-19 tested positive for the coronavirus. President Salva Kiir dissolved the task force and reconstituted a new one after the announcement., South Sudan had 994 confirmed cases and 10 deaths on 29 May, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center., PesaCheck has looked into the claim that South Sudan had 481 COVID-19 cases on May 20 and finds it to be FALSE., This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms., By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds., Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content., This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Researcher Mutisya Musembi and edited by PesaCheck News Editor Enock Nyariki., The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi., PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water/sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org., PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local media and other civic watchdog organisations in 14 African countries., Written by, Written by
FALSE: Juba did not have 481 COVID-19 cases on May 20