SABC News Apologises for False Report Claiming Ghana Recorded 2,300 Ebola Cases

• South Africa's public broadcaster SABC News aired an inaccurate news ticker claiming Ghana had recorded 2,300 Ebola infections and 930 deaths
• Ghana's Ministry of Health swiftly rejected the figures as fabricated, insisting the country has not recorded a single case of Ebola Virus Disease
• SABC issued an on-air correction and apology, but the false report had already sparked public concern across social media

South Africa's public broadcaster, SABC News, has issued a formal apology after airing a news ticker that falsely claimed Ghana had recorded 2,300 Ebola cases and 930 deaths, figures the Ghana Ministry of Health promptly denounced as entirely without basis.

The erroneous broadcast prompted an immediate response from Ghanaian health authorities, who rejected the statistics as fabricated and warned the public against spreading unverified information capable of causing unnecessary alarm.

In its on-air correction, Adom News reported that the broadcaster acknowledged the mistake directly.

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"This happened during a broadcast last night," the statement read. "SABC News regrets the error and apologises for any distress or inconvenience caused."

SABC further clarified that information obtained from Ghana's Ministry of Health confirmed the country had not registered a single confirmed case of Ebola Virus Disease.

The broadcaster also noted that recent visits by Ghana's sector minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, to border entry points, laboratories and treatment centres formed part of the country's standard public health preparedness protocols and did not signal any active outbreak.

Prior to SABC's correction, Ghana's Ministry of Health had already issued its own rebuttal, responding to reports circulating on social media that attributed the alarming case and death figures to the South African broadcaster. The Ministry categorically rejected those figures, describing them as misleading, and reiterated that Ghana remains free of the disease.

Authorities urged Ghanaians to consult only the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service for accurate information on disease outbreaks, warning against relying on unverified social media content on public health matters.

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SABC's correction echoed that position, stating clearly that the country's proactive surveillance measures "do not indicate an Ebola outbreak in Ghana."

The incident unfolded against a broader continental backdrop in which several African nations have been strengthening disease surveillance and emergency response systems in reaction to Ebola activity elsewhere on the continent. Ghana, however, has not recorded a confirmed case of the virus.

Source: YEN.com.gh