adminPamela Shumba Senior Reporter
A FALSE Ebola alert that went viral on WhatsApp since Tuesday has caused panic among Bulawayo residents. This has prompted the city council to issue a notice dismissing the deadly disease alert as a hoax.
Bulawayo City Council yesterday assured residents that there were no cases of Ebola in the city and the local authority’s acting Town Clerk, Sikhangele Zhou, urged residents to ignore any such messages, which started circulating on Tuesday.
“Please be advised that there are no cases of Ebola that have been recorded in Bulawayo. Any message contrary to this is incorrect and malicious and should be ignored,” she said.
The message, which circulated among thousands of residents in the city, indicated that the Ebola virus had been identified at Nketa Clinic.
Nketa Clinic caters for residents from Nketa, Nkulumane and Emganwini, among other suburbs.
Chronicle was inundated with phone calls from some concerned residents, who demanded to know what was going on.
The message was purported to be from a Dr C Murehwa, a Ministry of Health and Child Care official in Nketa constituency.
It read: “RED ALERT: residents from Nketa, Nkulumane and Emganwini are advised Ebola virus was identified at Nketa clinic from a patient who doctors initially thought had malaria. Several other people had been infected by the virus since the man, who has since been quarantined was a cobra (floor polish) hawker in the three suburbs.”
The Ministry of Health and Child Care, the message continued, in conjunction with police, is setting up quarantine posts around these affected areas and these would be monitored. People suspected to have been infected by the virus would be quarantined immediately, read the message.
The message mentioned that boundaries had been set up. It said “border posts” included Emganwini turn-off along Plumtree Road, Nketa 9 shops and Sekusile Shopping Centre.
“The government of Zimbabwe and the Bulawayo City Council is appealing to members of the public to report any sign of the virus to the mobile health workers starting from tomorrow (yesterday). Save Bulawayo, save Zimbabwe.
“Please forward this message to all your contacts to contribute to the livelihood of uMthwakazi,” read the message in part.
Residents from the three suburbs who spoke to Chronicle said they were afraid to move around or visit Nketa Clinic after the message started circulating.
“The message left people afraid. They now fear for their lives. This message spread like veld fire as residents also took it upon themselves to alert one another through other means of communication.
“Residents were now discouraging each other from visiting Nketa Clinic while others went to the council to enquire on what was going on,” said one resident from Emganwini identified as MaNdlovu.
Online Reporter