By Simon Muli
A tweet claiming that bars and clubs are set to close as Kenya goes into lockdown again.
Introduction
The tweet from BBC News Africa teases a number of stories contained in a podcast dubbed ‘Africa Today’, including Ethiopia’s prime minister’s declaration of a state of emergency in the Tigray region and striker Asamoah Gyan’s story on joining league football in Ghana.
The podcast also features a story by the BBC’s Immanuel Igunza looking into how Kenya is experiencing a second wave of COVID-19 infections and reports that President Uhuru Kenyatta has summoned county governors to address the rise in cases.
Mr Igunza speculates that new restrictions could be put in place across the country in response to the resurgence of cases, including the shutdown of bars and entertainment venues, as well as a ban on political rallies.
Verification
However, neither the introduction to the story nor the tweet qualifies the report by Mr Igunza as speculative, instead of presenting the closure of bars and clubs and the eventuality of a lockdown in Kenya as factual.
The introduction claims that bars, clubs and pubs across Kenya are set to be shut down again under new COVID-19 lockdown measures in the wake of rising cases while the tweet adds to this by claiming that the country is going into lockdown again.
The tweet, which was shared hours after President Kenyatta announced new COVID-19 restrictions, was met with incredulity by some Facebook users who commented and called out the BBC for sharing false information.
The fresh restrictions include the suspension of political rallies as speculated on by Mr Igunza’s report but stop short of a second lockdown and the total closure of bars as suggested in the tweet.
The government of Kenya has instead brought forward the curfew period by one hour, running from 10 pm to 4 am instead of the 11 pm to 4 am curfew that was in place in September. Bars and restaurants are now required to close by 9 pm, reducing their operating hours by an hour from the initial 10 pm closing time when the lockdown was lifted in September.
Verdict
PesaCheck has looked into the claim that bars and clubs are set to close as Kenya goes into lockdown again and finds it to be FALSE.
This story was produced by PesaCheck in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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