PARTLY FALSE: Tanzania’s Safe Travels stamp is not linked to ‘eradicating’ COVID-19
A Facebook post claiming Tanzania has won the war against COVID-19 and received a ‘Safe Travels’ stamp in recognition of this is PARTLY FALSE.
The post says that the stamp “is a sign that Tanzania is safe for its citizens and visitors”.
However, there is no link between a country’s COVID-19 status and the ‘Safe Travels’ stamp award; receiving the stamp does not mean a country or destination is COVID-19 free.
Rather, the ‘Safe Travels’ stamp helps travellers to recognize governments and companies around the world that have adopted standardized protocols for health and hygiene, to enable consumers to experience ‘Safe Travels’.
In order for countries or companies to become eligible to use the stamp, they need to follow and implement the health and hygiene protocols outlined by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The protocol documents apply to the hospitality industry, outdoor retailers, airlines, airports, cruise, tour operators, convention centres, car rental companies and insurers, among others.
Tanzania received the award on August 13, making it eligible to use the stamp.
PesaCheck has investigated a Facebook post claiming that Tanzania has won the war against COVID-19 and has received a ‘Safe Travels’ stamp and finds it to be PARTLY FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organizations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Najma Juma and edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Rose Lukalo.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water/sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organizations.