Tanzania has developed a coronavirus drug called COVIDOL that can cure COVID-19.
The post, published on June 3, congratulates Tanzania President John Magufuli, claiming that his government and the national health committee has approved the remedy. The post is illustrated by images of the president, Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu and bottles of the purported remedy., The claim appears to have originated from statements made by Dr Hamis Malebo, a research scientist at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), who promoted Covidol during a show on Tanzania Broadcasting Service (TBS) on May 11., In the televised report, he claimed that Covidol’s efficacy was proved after trials on COVID-19 patients, adding that it was approved by the government of Tanzania. He explained that the remedy protects against infection by improving and strengthening the immune system., The claim was shared on Facebook by Breaking News Kiswahili on June 2, with a further claim that Covidol is better than Madagascar’s COVID-Organics and works faster, curing patients within seven days., However, during the same TBS interview, an officer from NIMR refuted claims that they had tested Covidol, saying he has only seen it mentioned on social media platforms. NIMR is the same institute that Dr Malebo works for and is the authority responsible for clinical trials of medicines., On May 3, Tanzania’s Ministry of Health issued a statement saying that there is currently no COVID-19 vaccine or treatment. The ministry urged herbal medicine practitioners to educate the public about herbal treatments and warned against the use of untested medicines., Dr. Paul Mohammed from the Ministry of Natural Medicine and Alternative Medicine said that the medicine has not been approved by the ministry and advertisements on social media do not mean it has been tested by authorities., There has been a surge of claims for COVID-19 herbal cures in Tanzania, prompting medical experts to warn the public against taking treatments at face value before they are scientifically tested., Researchers around the world have been working to develop viable vaccines and treatments for the novel coronavirus that has infected more than seven million people worldwide. Experts have said that a vaccine for the virus will not be available for widespread use for at least 12 to 18 months., While patients can and do recover from coronavirus infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment that is known to work against COVID-19., PesaCheck has looked into the post claiming that Tanzania has developed a coronavirus drug called Covidol that is effective and cures 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 PesaCheck Researcher Sylvia Makinia and edited by PesaCheck News Editor Enock Nyariki., 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: There is no scientific evidence that a herbal medicine from Tanzania cures COVID-19