A CAPE TOWN man will face a court judge today after sharing fake news about the deadly coronavirus. Spokesperson for the National Police Commissioner, Brigadier Vish Naidoo confirmed that the man had handed himself over to the Parow SAPS on Monday and will appear in court this morning.
In a statement released on 5 April, Naidoo said there had been at least seven others arrested for sharing fake news, including a Pretoria man (23) who shared snippets of a video on 27 March, in which two men were seen travelling around Pretoria mocking efforts to curb the Covid-19 virus and bragging they do not comply with laws.
#sapsWC Man (55) arrested by #SAPS Parow after police link him to a video claiming that #COVID19 test kits are contaminated. Will appear in court today. SWhttps://t.co/JmRxzbz9n5 pic.twitter.com/F5NiIxlUfv
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) April 7, 2020
Also read: Over 2000 arrests for non-compliance with COVID-19 rules
The Cape Town man who faces jail time today claimed that 10 000 government officials would be accompanied by police to test residents for the coronavirus by inserting a cotton swap in the nasal passage. He further claimed that these test swabs were contaminated and used to spread the virus.
“We are not going to allow overseas companies to export Covid-19 testing kits to South Africa that could potentially be contaminated,” he said.
He added that if he was right, he would save thousands of lives, and if he was wrong, he would apologise.
*Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news
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