{"id":21499,"date":"2020-04-02T17:48:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T15:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=21499"},"modified":"2020-04-02T17:48:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T15:48:07","slug":"ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke","title":{"rendered":"ED frowns at COVID-19 joke"},"content":{"rendered":"

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday frowned at what was meant to be an April Fools\u2019 Day prank which claimed the Zanu PF leader had tested positive for the deadly coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were social media reports, apparently meant as a joke for April Fools Day, that went viral yesterday that Mnangagwa had tested positive, forcing the party to issue a statement.<\/p>\n

Mnangagwa did not see the funny side of the joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to fake news being spread by the usual nefarious and faceless characters using fake news sites insinuating the President has been tested positive to COVID-19, it is imperative to inform the public that your President is safe, sound and healthy,\u201d a statement from Zanu PF read in part.<\/p>\n

Mnangagwa warned the media against \u201cpeddling falsehoods\u201d, especially around the COVID-19 issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we enter Day 3 of the 21-day lockdown, be advised to stay home and be safe. Media houses must be careful of the messages that they communicate in the name of the April Fools Day, otherwise we distract the nation from the significant strides we are making in this lockdown period,\u201d he was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

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\nMnangagwa declared a 21-day mandatory lockdown which started on Monday to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
\nCivic society organisations, however, expressed concern that government was managing information as the number of COVID-19 cases was suspected to be higher given that of the more than 16 000 people who arrived in the country in recent weeks, only 200 had been tested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday frowned at what was meant to be an April Fools\u2019 Day prank which claimed the Zanu PF leader had tested positive for the deadly coronavirus. There were social media reports, apparently meant as a joke for April Fools Day, that went viral yesterday that Mnangagwa had tested positive, forcing the party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[38,34],"class_list":["post-21499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-zanu-pf","tag-emmerson-mnangagwa"],"yoast_head":"\nED frowns at COVID-19 joke - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday frowned at what was meant to be an April Fools\u2019 Day prank which claimed the Zanu PF leader had tested\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ED frowns at COVID-19 joke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday frowned at what was meant to be an April Fools\u2019 Day prank which claimed the Zanu PF leader had tested\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-02T15:48:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/03\/Mnangagwa-636x381-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"636\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"381\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"ED frowns at COVID-19 joke\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-02T15:48:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke\"},\"wordCount\":286,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/03\/Mnangagwa-636x381-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"#Zanu PF\",\"Emmerson Mnangagwa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/ed-frowns-at-covid-19-joke\",\"name\":\"ED frowns at COVID-19 joke - 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