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No, Uganda hasn’t ‘suspended’ sex during Covid-19 crisis

A screenshot of a Ugandan TV broadcast is making the rounds on Facebook.

From NBS Television, it shows Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni with a banner at the bottom of the screen that reads: “SEX SUSPENDED FOR A MONTH.”

One user captioned it: “As away for containing Covid-19, Uganda Government has suspended sex for a month.”

Another wrote: “Sex to be banned in Uganda for a month. Even married people to keep distance.”

Has Uganda banned sex to help stop the spread of Covid-19? We checked.



Original text in screenshot replaced


Africa Check went through the latest broadcasts by NBS Television. We found a live broadcast of Museveni addressing the nation on the coronavirus pandemic, on 18 March 2020.

Photos and videos similar to the screenshot can be seen on NBS’s Twitter account.

In the broadcast, Museveni announced that schools would be closed and public gatherings suspended.

But his speech, published by Uganda’s New Vision newspaper and broadcast on the president’s official Facebook account, does not mention the “suspension” of sex. 

Africa Check found the exact moment when the screenshot appears to have been taken, in the YouTube copy of the broadcast. The original text reads: “POLITICAL, CULTURAL GATHERINGS SUSPENDED FOR A MONTH.” 

The image was manipulated to add the text about sex. – Dancan Bwire




 

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