An image making rounds on social media claims to show a tweet from the NTV Uganda account appearing to report that President Yoweri Museveni was supposedly airlifted to Germany after allegedly contracting COVID-19.
Background
In the wake of a second COVID-19 wave in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni announced new guidelines including a 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. curfew, the closure of schools, bars and places of worship for a period of 42 days.
Here is an highlight of the Presidential Guidelines on #Covid_19, these guidelines will be operational effective 18th June 2021. pic.twitter.com/X0npmHnS8I
— Government of Uganda (@GovUganda) June 18, 2021
As of June 27, Uganda’s Ministry of Health has recorded a total of 79,434 COVID-19 cases and 989 deaths.
Verification
Information on the image purporting to come from NTV Uganda’s official Twitter handle does not appear on the NTV Uganda website or any other publication as would breaking news pertaining to the president’s well-being.
At the same time, Piga Firimbi found that this tweet is fabricated as it does not appear on the NTV Uganda Twitter feed. In response, NTV Uganda published a tweet on June 27 declaring the information as fake news, and that the image circulating is not from them.
FAKE NEWS ALERT: Please, disregard this fake news post being shared and attributed to NTV Uganda and treat it with the contempt it deserves. NTV Uganda has not shared any such information on any of its platforms. Beware of those using social media to spread #FakeNews#NTVNews pic.twitter.com/Se1sMuViy4
— NTV UGANDA (@ntvuganda) June 26, 2021
Moreover, President Museveni on June 27 publicly appeared at the World Health Summit in Kampala, hence debunking claims that he had been airlifted after falling sick.
Photos: President of the Republic of Uganda H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Arrives for the #WHSKampala. pic.twitter.com/suE9RVD8UU
— World Health Summit Africa 2021 (@WHSKampala) June 27, 2021
Verdict
The image claiming to show a tweet from NTV Uganda, indicating that President Museveni was supposedly airlifted to Germany after allegedly contracting COVID-19 is FALSE.
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