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In a sign of the times that has become hauntingly familiar across the world, a photo of rows of hospital beds inside what looks like a large warehouse has been shared on Facebook in South Africa. Stay Home! Kubi in Cape Town... Gauteng is next! its caption reads. CTICC Temporary Hospital... Today! The photo was posted on 29 June 2020. CTICC is the Cape Town International Convention Centre, in the Western Cape province’s largest city. The centre has been transformed into a temporary field hospital for Covid-19 patients. But the post has been flagged as potentially false by Facebook’s fact-checking system . Is this a photo of the temporary CTICC hospital? Snapped by Western Cape politician The photo first appeared in a 29 June tweet by Ricardo Mackenzie , a member of the Western Cape parliament. Mackenzie said it was taken in the CTICC and, at the time, 326 of the hospital’s 862 beds had been filled. The temporary facility has been dubbed the Hospital of Hope. It was officially opened by president Cyril Ramaphosa on 5 June and began admitting patients on 8 June . Africa Check contacted Mackenzie, who confirmed that he had taken the photo on 29 June. The photo is scattered with emojis. Mackenzie told us he added the emojis to hide the identities of patients. He shared an unedited version of the photo with us, as well as others taken at the same time. The timestamps on the photos confirm that they were captured on 29 June when, Mackenzie said, he was on an oversight visit to the CTICC. He posted his tweet shortly after. Miscaptioned in news report The photo has been used in an incorrect context by local media. When News24 reported on the temporary hospital on 29 June it made a small error. The article correctly said the hospital had opened on 8 June, but incorrectly attributed Mackenzie’s photo to the same day. In a first look inside the facility when it opened on 8 June, Western Cape MPL Ricardo Mackenzie tweeted a picture of the 862-bed facility steadily filling up, News24 wrote . The photo was in fact taken three weeks later. Signs of photos used out of context The photo may have been flagged as potentially false because a number of comments on the post promote the false narrative that Covid-19 is not a serious disease, and suggest that the photo is intended to spread fear. The Daily Maverick noted similar reactions to an identical version of the Facebook post, shared on Twitter . Some called it fake news and propaganda . And the post shows many signs common to photos shared out of context. In Africa Check’s guide to vetting information during a pandemic, we warn that messages designed to provoke strong emotions – such as fear – are often suspicious. The Facebook post uses dramatic and emotive language, with lots of exclamation marks and emojis. It also says the photo was taken in Cape Town Today! but does not specify exactly where or when it was taken. This is also common with photos shared out of context on social media. Emojis or other graphics added to an image can also make the original photo more difficult to find in a reverse image search. They can also cover details that provide important context. But despite the warning signs, the photo is real. It was taken in the CTICC on 29 June, the day that the Facebook post and tweet were published. – Keegan Leech
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