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The deadly novel coronavirus outbreak, which has infected more than 4,500 people and spread to 15 countries since emerging in China, has also spawned many false claims on social media.

Here's a selection of misinformation debunked by AFP's Fact Check service.
 
Fake death projections

In Sri Lanka, a Facebook post shared thousands of times claimed doctors were projecting that the entire population of Wuhan -- a city of 11 million people -- would likely die of the novel coronavirus.

This is false; Chinese authorities have made no such projection.

There is currently no vaccine for the new strain of coronavirus. But the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention stated that most people will recover on their own.

The post also claimed the virus could be caught by eating the meat of the Chinese cobra but this has not yet been established.

Sydney food not contaminated

In Australia, multiple Facebook posts shared hundreds of times claimed to show a list of foods and locations in Sydney which have been contaminated by the new coronavirus strain first discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December.

One post, published on January 27, identified different types of rice, cookies and onion rings that allegedly contain traces of the virus. It also claimed that a "bureau of diseasology" had run tests and discovered the strain in several Sydney suburbs.

But the local health authority told AFP the locations listed posed no risk to visitors, and the foods named did not appear in the New South Wales food authority's list of recalls and advisories.
 
Not Wuhan market

A video viewed more than 88,000 times on Facebook purported to show the market in Wuhan where the virus strain materialised. In reality, it was filmed at an Indonesian market.

The misleading post was published on an account in the Philippines on January 26, 2020. The footage showed bats, rats, snakes and an assortment of other animal meat products being sold at a bustling market.

However, a reverse image search using key frames extracted from the video led to another identical YouTube clip uploaded on July 20, 2019.

AFP was able to confirm the video was in fact captured at the Langowan market in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province.

Salt water can't kill virus

Multiple posts on Weibo, Twitter and Facebook shared in January claimed top Chinese respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan had told people to rinse their mouths with salt water solution to prevent infection from a new virus outbreak.

But the claim is bogus; the expert's team said saline would not "kill" the new virus and urged people not to believe or share medically-inaccurate online rumours.

The World Health Organization also told AFP there was no evidence that saline solution would protect against infection from the new coronavirus.
 
Conspiracy theories

Multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter alleged that the novel coronavirus was created on purpose -- with theories including that it was manufactured by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The posts included patents to buffer their claim. But these were in fact patents registered in an effort to combat different strains of coronavirus, for example by developing vaccines.
 
False alarm in France

In France, several social media posts have circulated with claims that people had been contaminated with the novel coronavirus in the departments of Val d'Oise, Savoie, Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrenees-Orientales.

These false reports were accompanied by images made to look like they were screenshots from several French news sources -- including AFP.

However, these images were digitally manipulated. No cases have been confirmed in these departments.

About 40 Sri Lankan students and some workers are stuck in Wuhan following the lockdown of the virus-wracked Chinese provincial city and other cities from Thursday morning onwards, Chinese media reported.
Sri Lanka's Foreign Relations Ministry has directed the Sri Lankan Embassy in Beijing to contact the 40 Sri Lankan students as well as others employed there and make necessary arrangements to ensure their safety.

Two more Chinese cities were put on lock down by the government on Thursday (23), as authorities in the Chinese gambling center of Macau said they were weighing closures of its casinos, expanding an unprecedented experiment to try to contain a fast-spreading virus that has killed 25 people and infected more than 800.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday declined to declare the outbreak a global public health emergency, citing a limited number of cases abroad and efforts under way to bring it under control.

An issue that has surfaced and which is causing heartburn among Tamil-speaking citizens is the likelihood that the national anthem will not be sung in Tamil at the forthcoming National Independence Day celebrations on February 4.  Government members have been making contradictory statements on this issue.  Some of them have openly declared that the national anthem will not be sung in Tamil on this occasion whereas Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that no final decision has been taken on this matter.  

The National Peace Council (NPC) in a statement today said that they are concerned about the government’s delay in taking a decision on this issue.  

"Adding to our concerns is the provocative action of a government minister who went to the predominantly Tamil-speaking north and ordered the name board of an institution under his ministry to be redone so that the Sinhala wording comes on top and the Tamil wording below it," NPC said.

The national anthem issue is deeply upsetting to Tamil-speaking citizens in general, and not only in the north, who see the step motherly treatment meted out to the Tamil language.  The issue of language was a key dividing factor in the early years of Sri Lanka’s independence and one of the root causes of the ethnic conflict that escalated into a three decade-long internal war.  

"We need to learn from the past. The National Peace Council calls on the government to take this issue seriously as it affects the sense of dignity, equality and sense of belonging of those who are Tamil-speakers. It is a travesty that this issue should be re-ignited today a full decade after the end of that war by those who do not believe in the plural nature of our multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual and plural society.  The Sri Lankan constitution gives equal place to the Sinhala and Tamil languages, and also ensures that in Tamil will be the language of administration in Tamil majority areas," the statement said.

 In his inaugural speech at his swearing in ceremony, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa noted that he has been elected by the Sinhala Buddhist majority, but he would be the president of all Sri Lankans whether or not they had voted for him.  He was elected by the people to develop the country and to ensure national security. As Sri Lanka has a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual and plural society it is important that the president should be responsive to this reality in his decision making.  

The development and national security that Sri Lanka needs will be best secured by citizens who feel that they are treated equally by the state and equally belong to the country.  The NPC said that they believe that the president, as the head of state and head of government is the person who can and should make the decision regarding the singing of the national anthem in Tamil prior to Independence Day, on which day he will take the centre stage as the president of all Sri Lankans. 

Rifkaan Bathiudeen, a brother of former minister Rishad Bathiudeen who appeared before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) through his lawyers yesterday (22), has been remanded until June 06 by Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne, today (23).

Bathiudeen, a former Northern Provincial Councilor, was taken into custody for failing to assist the CID in investigations into the alleged sale of 280 acres of land in the Talaimannar area using forged deeds.

President's Counsel Kalinga Indatissa, appearing on behalf of the suspect, submitted to the court that the former Provincial Councilor had purchased 40 acres of the land legally and sold the same plot later on. Indatissa pointed out that there were no charges against Rifkaan Bathiudeen with regard to forging documents which had also been accepted by the Courts previously.

Accused of avoiding CID!

President's Counsel Kalinga Indatissa has requested the court to release him on bail as there is no specific evidence to support that his client is involved in this crime.

After considering the submissions of both parties, the Magistrate ordered the CID to remand the suspect until June 06 as the suspect had not arrived at the CID on a due date.

The case was heard before the same court in 2015 and the two parties in question had reached a settlement. However, court action had resumed following a complaint made recently.  

The government has suspended its policy of granting visa on arrival for Chinese travellers on Tuesday (28), a day after the health authorities detected the country's first coronavirus infection.

Sudath Suraweera, the chief epidemiologist of the country's health ministry, said on Monday that a 40-year-old Chinese woman was found positive for the virus.

"She arrived on January 19 and was tested positive for the virus when she was leaving the airport on January 25. She was admitted to the infectious diseases hospital," he said.

Chinese tourists can still visit

Following the first detection of the coronavirus case, the Sri Lankan health authorities ordered the suspension of the on arrival visa policy for the Chinese nationals.

Travellers from China must apply for visa via the online portal, the authorities said.

However, anxiety is growing amid evidence that the disease has an incubation period of as long as two weeks before those infected start to show signs of the illness. That raises the possibility that people who are carrying the virus but don’t show symptoms could infect others.

The Chinese tourist that had contracted the virus spent two weeks in the island before showing any symptoms.

Several countries have placed temporary restrictions on Chinese tourists in an effort to contain the virus from entering their borders.

Sri Lanka has become a major travel destination for Chinese tourists and many Chinese nationals also work on Chinese-funded infrastructure projects - including a sea port, port city and highways.

The Sri Lanka Ministry of Defense (MoD) has placed an order with US military contractor GTX Corp for its global positioning system (GPS) and Track & Trace solutions, the company announced on its website.

TGTX Corp is involved in the manufacture of wearable GPS, people and asset tracking location-based services (LBS) and real-time location systems (RTLS).

The initial test order, which will be sent to the company in the next few weeks, is part of a requirement from the Sri Lanka Army, Disaster Management Centre, and Centre for Research and Development.

Under a Sri Lanka MoD initiative, the country’s personnel and equipment have to be tagged, tracked and located (TTL).

GTX, along with the Sri Lankan Government, has been working for the past year to get approvals for the sales and import of its products.

Approvals for the sales and import of GTX’s products were received after the government confirmed the 2019 annual allocated budget of US$17.5bn.

Within this context, GTX was established as a registered supplier for the year 2019 and has also received renewal notification for the year 2020.

GTX director Andrew Duncan said: "As with most government institutions, things usually take longer than expected but we are very pleased to have received confirmation that the initial order and payment were successfully processed on their end and received on our end."

“We expect to ship this first order of GPS SmartSoles, Take along Trackers and NFC tags in the coming weeks.”

(Source: www.army-technology.com)

Norwegian Ambassador Trine Jøranli Eskedal inaugurated Sri Lanka’s first-ever floating solar plant with a capacity of 42KW located at the Kilinochchi campus of the Jaffna University recently.

The project is a result of the research collaboration since 2017 between the University of Jaffna and the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo.

JVP Parliamentarian Vijitha Herath says that the government is yet to officially name a Minister for the portfolio of Defence. 

Raising questions in Parliament, Herath said that the security of the people was a major topic in the recent past but no cabinet Minister has been appointed for the subject of Defence up to now. 

Responding to MP Herath, MP Sumedha Jayasena said that the Defence Minister’s portfolio has been vested with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

When the JVP Parliamentarian inquired whether that was the official statement of the government, there was no clear response MP Jayasena.

MP Herath went onto note that they saw on the day the Ministers were appointed, that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was assigned the Defence Ministry, however, that has not been gazetted up to now. 

He said the State Ministry has been gazetted to Chamal Rajapaksa, therefore, there is no Defence Minister.

He questioned as to how a Secretary to the Ministry can be appointed without a Minister. He went onto question; “Why has Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa not been given any Ministry. Is there a problem? Are the brother’s suspicious of each other? If there is a problem of this nature, they should tell the people of this country.”

A silent protest organised by lawyers was held outside the Colombo Fort Magistrate Court premises today against Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera’s order to arrest Embilipitiya High Court Judge Gihan Pilapitiya.

The lawyers also protested against the undue influence of the Attorney General into the independence of the High Court and observed that the Attorney General does not have the jurisdiction to call for an order against Judge Pilapitiya.

The Attorney General ordered the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) to obtain a warrant for the arrest of the interdicted Embilipitiya High Court Judge yesterday (23).

Judge Gihan Pilapitiya is in the spotlight over an incriminating tele-conversation with UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake.

The protesters further questioned as to why interdicted Solicitor General Dilrukshi Dias Wickremesinghe did not go through the same process as Pilapitiya.

The protesters also claimed that a few of the AG’s juniors are responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks and are currently roaming free.

The Speaker announced this when the Parliament convened today (21).

The Attorney General had informed the Speaker earlier that it was not appropriate to submit the forensic audit report to MPs.

However, JVP MP Bimal Rathnayaka said there were enough precedents where Parliament had made its own decisions despite the directives given by the Judiciary. Rathnayaka noted that the legislature has the right to make its own decision on the forensic audit.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stated that law enforcement officers should carry out their duties without any fear or favour, but their actions should strictly be in compliance with the law.

The President's Media Division (PMD) in a statement said that President Rajapaksa has instructed that any arrests should be carried out only when absolutely necessary and in strict compliance of the law.

As arrest is not part of the punishment and results in the serious deprivation of liberty of citizens and other significant implications such as loss of reputation and standing in the society, arrests are to be carried out only when absolutely necessary and upon a decision taken with utmost care and in strict compliance of the law, President Rajapaksa instructed Acting Inspector General of Police, Senior DIG C. D. Wickramaratne.

President further directed the Police to ensure that any necessity for impending arrests should be made entirely on the professional judgment.

Due respect should be given by officers discharging such duties to the Members of Parliament as representatives of the people and professionals such as Doctors, the PMD statement noted.

"The Police was further directed by the President to apply same equally to all citizens of Sri Lanka without any discrimination whatsoever nature and under no circumstances carried out for extraneous purposes and should not tolerate any undue influence," the PMD said.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has acknowledged for the first time that more than 23,500 people missing for a decade since the end of the country's protracted Tamil war are dead.

Rajapaksa, who played a key role in the military campaign that crushed the Tamil separatist rebels, told a UN envoy that steps would be taken to finally provide death certificates for those reported missing, his office said.

"President Rajapaksa outlined his plans to address the issue of missing persons," said a statement on the president's meeting with UN resident coordinator Hanaa Singer.

"He explained that these missing persons are actually dead."

Some 5,000 security forces are among the 23,500 people never accounted for.

The statement said most of the missing civilians had been conscripted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which was crushed in a major offensive that ended in May 2009.

"The families of the missing attest to it. However, they do not know what has become of them and so claim them to be missing," the president said.

Under current law, families cannot access property deeds, bank accounts or inheritances left by missing relatives unless they can conclusively prove they are dead -- an often impossible task.

The last government set up an Office on Missing Persons in 2018 to investigate those never traced after the 37-year Tamil separatist war, as well as during a Marxist uprising.

International rights groups claim at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the separatist war, but the government has disputed the figures.

A government-appointed commission established in August 2013 received 23,586 reports of people missing throughout the drawn-out separatist war.

Thousands of people also went missing during a crackdown by security forces and pro-government vigilante groups on Marxist rebels between 1987 and 1990.

Several mass graves containing skeletal remains have been found since, but only a handful have ever been identified. (AFP)