A 21-year-old Cameroonian studying at China’s Yangtze University was admitted to hospital in early February where he was admitted for 13 days. China’s embassy in Cameroon confirmed via twitter that the man had been treated for the novel coronavirus and left hospital on February 10, having been “completely cured”.
Twitter posts such as this one here claiming that the man was cured because of his blood genetic composition have been swirling across social media.
Breaking
Chinese doctors confirmed that African blood genetic composition resist Corona Virus— Mûťhūñgü™🗿 (@Muthungu9) February 14, 2020
According to a report by CityScrollz from February 14, claims are that Chinese doctors said the man “stayed alive because of his blood genetic composition which is mainly found in sub-Saharan Africans”.
Similar claims have been made by the African Daily Mail, Kenyan Bulletin and Abia Pulse.
Background
The World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency over the new Coronavirus now known as Covid-19, on January 20, 2020.
According to WHO, there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the virus. Those infected should, however, receive appropriate care to relieve and treat symptoms while those with severe illness should receive optimized supportive care.
The first case of Covid-19 in Africa was confirmed on 14th February in Egypt. As reported by Aljazeera, the country’s Health Ministry spokesman said the affected person is a ‘foreigner’ who is hospitalized and in isolation.
Verification
A UK-based specialist in infectious diseases and epidemics, Paul Hunter, told DW that claims that Africans are immune to the virus are not true and that “That is nonsense. There is no evidence what so ever. That is false news, false facts”.
Verdict
There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that African blood is resistant to Covid-19.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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