BBC: The videos on bat soup was not shot in Wuhan, or in China for that matter.
NAIROBI, Kenya Jan 29 – The BBC has debunked fake news of videos that went viral online on Bat soup, as the origin of the deadly coronavirus that has killed more than 130 people in China and infected more than 6000 others.
Reports indicate that the virus is believed to have originated from illegally traded wildlife at a seafood marked in Wuhan city, the epicenter of the viral disease but there has been no link to bat soup or bats, officials said.
“Although bats have been named in recent research from China as a possible source of the virus, bat soup is not particularly commonplace in the country and the investigations into its exact origins continue,” the BBC reports.
Speculations have been rife on social media on the source of coronavirus, in what the broadcaster says, was exacerbated by a slew of videos said to be showing Chinese people eating bats amid the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan City.
One of the clips BBC refers to, shows a smiling woman holding a cooked bat on camera, before admitting it tastes “like chicken meat” in what sparked outrage online.
“But the video was not shot in Wuhan, or in China for that matter,” the BBC reports. Originally filmed in 2016, BBC says, it shows popular blogger and travel show host Mengyun Wang during a trip to Palau, an archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean.
The clip resurfaced on social media after cases of the new coronavirus emerged in Wuhan late last year, the broadcaster said.
Following online backlash, Ms Wang apologised, saying she was “just trying to introduce the life of local people” to the audience and had not known that bats could be a virus carrier. Her video has since been taken down.
The new coronavirus is believed to have emerged from illegally traded wildlife at a seafood market in Wuhan.
Although bats have been named in recent research from China as a possible source of the virus, bat soup is not particularly commonplace in the country and the investigations into its exact origins continue.
The SARS-like coronavirus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where a seafood market has been identified as the centre of the outbreak
Several countries such as the US, France and Japan have evacuated their citizens from Wuhan city, with airlines like British Airways suspending flights to and from China.
Others like Australia, France, India and South Korea are also preparing evacuation plans for hundreds of their citizens in the city.
Kenya however, said it was not in a hurry to evacuate her citizens from Wuhan.
Sarah Serem, Kenya’s High Commissioner to China, announced the decision while indicating that she had cancelled her leave to jet back to Beijing from where embassy staff are monitoring the epidemic that broke out in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province.
“The best measure that has been taken by the Chinese government is to ensure that those within the area are not further exposed, so the option of evacuation shouldn’t be an immediate concern, for now, I think the best way is to contain and when the 14 days of quarantine are over, and everybody is safe then it’s easy to move and access,” Serem told Citizen TV in Eldoret Thursday.
“I have had to cancel my leave to be on the ground, the unfortunate bit is that I can’t be in Wuhan because the place is on lock-down but the Kenyan embassy in Beijing is open 24 hours and we have been in contact with the Kenyan community in China giving them updates and assuring them that things are under control,” she stated.
Kenya’s national carrier Kenya Airways said Thursday it was not planning to suspend flights to and from China in the wake of coronavirus that has killed over 130 and infected over 6000 others.
Kenya Airways has direct flights to Guangzhou.
The airline issued the statement, a day after flying in a Kenyan student who had traveled from Wuhan city, the epicenter of the deadly viral disease.
The student was later taken to Kenyatta National Hospital where he was quarantined and samples taken from him for further tests at the Influence Centre. Results were due later Wednesday, according to Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki.
“The airline remains in consultation with the Ministry of Health and would like to assure our customers that we are evaluating all options and we will communicate the next steps of action at the appropriate time,” KQ said in a statement.
It also assured on “additional precautionary measures to ensure that our staff and customers are safe.”
Some of the measures KQ is taking include screening all passengers at Guangzhou Airport.
“Passengers from Wuhan and surrounding districts will only be accepted on our flights after clearance by the Guangzhou Airport health authorities,” it said.
The envoy said Kenyans in every province in China had been issued with emergency contacts to report any case that may arise and that it’s much safer to have the virus contained from within.
This is contrary to reports by some of the Kenyans in Wuhan that there has been no communication from the Kenyan Embassy in Beijing.
China locked down Hubei province in an unprecedented operation affecting tens of millions of people and intended to slow transmission of the respiratory virus.
A statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday stated that the Kenyan embassy is aware of 85 Kenyans who are in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, the embassy in China urging unregistered Kenyans to contact the embassy.
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