AFP's fact-check service debunks misinformation spread online. Here are some of our recent fact-checks: A video was shared thousands of times on Facebook alongside a claim it shows a woman who was arrested in Australia after spitting in a supermarket. The posts claimed the woman had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. But the claim is false. The video was edited together from two separate incidents. Australian police said part of the footage showed a woman being detained after a disturbance unrelated to the coronavirus. The Australian supermarket chain named in the misleading posts said the second part of the footage was not filmed in its stores. A video of US President Donald Trump and a top US pharmaceutical executive speaking at a press conference was viewed thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alongside a claim it shows them announcing the distribution of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. But in fact, neither Trump nor the executive made reference to a COVID-19 vaccine being authorised for use. African nations have been facing a formidable foe in their fight against the novel coronavirus: misinformation fuelled by a deep distrust of government. In Nigeria, for instance, the first confirmed cases were followed by widespread conspiracy theories that the government overstated the number of cases in order to cash in on international aid. The distrust has allowed misinformation and indifference to official warnings to emerge as major obstacles across the region, where poor healthcare infrastructure provides fertile ground for the virus to spread. Footage of a man appearing to wipe saliva on a subway train handrail was viewed thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alongside a claim it shows a US soldier spreading the novel coronavirus on a train in the Chinese city of Wuhan in October 2019. But the video in fact shows an intoxicated man on a metro train in Belgium in March 2020. A video purporting to show Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie lying in a hospital bed after contracting COVID-19 was shared thousands of times on Facebook and Twitter. The woman in the video, however, is not Sophie Trudeau. The individual in the clip is actually a British woman who was being treated for the coronavirus infection at a London hospital. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. afp