59 Kenyans killed after drinking Dettol to prevent COVID-19.
The post, published on March 30 by Atif Khlel Boss — whose Facebook profile indicates he lives in Sudan — adds that the 59 were congregants at a church, who were made to take Dettol to prevent COVID-19., However, these deaths have not been reported either by authorities or on any mainstream media outlets in Kenya., A Google image reverse search shows that the photos are from two separate events in South Africa., The image with a woman in a yellow T-shirt drinking Dettol was first published by South Africa’s Daily Sun on December 9, 2016. The photo shows South African Prophet Rufus Phala of Ark Spiritual Christian Church, who made his church members drink Dettol, claiming that they would be healed of sickness., Dettol South Africa responded to the incident with a post stating that the antiseptic is not meant for oral consumption. No casualties were reported as a result of the incident., The three other images published alongside the post are from 2018 and also show Prophet Rufus administering JIK to his congregants. According to another article on the Daily Sun, Rufus claimed that he had turned JIK into the ‘blood of Jesus’ as part of a ‘miracle service’. No casualties were reported in this incident as well., The World Health Organization advises against drinking bleach or any other chemicals, stating that these do not prevent or cure COVID-19, and consuming them can be harmful to one’s health., PesaCheck has looked into the claim that 59 Kenyans have died after consuming Dettol as a preventive measure against COVID-19 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 Fact-Checker Linda Ngari and edited by PesaCheck Deputy 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 a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)., Written by, Written by
FALSE: This post claiming that 59 Kenyans have died after consuming Dettol to prevent COVID-19 is a hoax