Did the World Health Organization order governments to "Prepare for 'Mega Lockdowns' Due to 'Deadly Monkeypox' Strain"? No, that's not true: WHO responded to a Lead Stories inquiry about the report of orders for lockdown preparation with "It is false." Preparations for or even the suggestion of major lockdowns because of the monkeypox virus would be major news worldwide, yet there have been no news stories about it. The World Health Organization does not have the power to force any government to do anything.
The claim appeared in an article published (archived here) by The People's Voice on August 15, 2024, titled "WHO Orders Govt's To Prepare for 'Mega Lockdowns' Due to 'Deadly Monkeypox' Strain." The story opens:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has ordered government's to prepare to initiate tough new lockdowns due to the "strong likelihood" that the new monkeypox strain will become a deadly pandemic.
This is what the article looked like on The People's Voice website at the time of writing:
(Source: The People's Voice screenshot taken on Mon Aug 19 15:30:13 2024 UTC)
Public health emergency of international concern
On August 14, 2024, WHO issued a public health emergency of international concern on mpox, now the preferred term for monkeypox. In part, the news release said:
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has determined that the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR). ...
In declaring the PHEIC, Dr Tedros said, 'The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighbouring countries are very worrying. On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it's clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.'
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said, 'Significant efforts are already underway in close collaboration with communities and governments, with our country teams working on the frontlines to help reinforce measures to curb mpox. With the growing spread of the virus, we're scaling up further through coordinated international action to support countries bring the outbreaks to an end.'
While the press release does mention a "coordinated international response," nowhere does it talk about "lockdowns," mega or otherwise.
World Health Organization
Asked to respond to the article's contention that WHO ordered governments to prepare for lockdowns due to mpox, Bhanu Bhatnagar, the agency's press and media relations officer, called the claim "false" in an August 19, 2024, email. Bhatnagar continued:
WHO has issued the following guidance to Member States on what to do to detect, diagnose and treat mpox effectively. This does not include any recommendation for lockdowns or vaccine mandates whatsoever.
For more please visit: https://www.who.int/news/item/14-08-2024-who-director-general-declares-mpox-outbreak-a-public-health-emergency-of-international-concern
In a separate email response to Lead Stories on the same date, WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris echoed Bhatnagar. She said:
These claims are false. WHO cannot and has not ordered governments to prepare for 'Mega Lockdowns' or any kind of lockdown due to mpox. As a scientific and technical organization, WHO provides technical advice and support to its 194 Member States. Countries have the sovereignty to take decisions and actions concerning the health of their populations.
Google search
Lead Stories searched using keywords on Google News, visible here (archived here), and found no credible reporting as of August 19, 2024, to support the claim that the WHO ordered governments to prepare for mpox lockdowns.
A screenshot of the search appears below:
(Source: Google screenshot taken on Mon Aug 19 17:09:53 2024 UTC)
The People's Voice
The People's Voice is among the most prolific online publishers of fake news. Articles on the site often link to and extensively quote stories from other sites to give an appearance of legitimacy but the main claim in the headline and/or the first paragraph of each article is almost never supported by the sources that are offered. The site routinely makes up quotes from people or misrepresents scientific study results.
It originally started as YourNewsWire in 2014 and rebranded as NewsPunch in 2017. In 2023 it rebranded itself again to The People's Voice. The People's Voice/NewsPunch/YourNewsWire has published numerous fake news articles in the past. Its Facebook page, "The People's Voice", lost its verification checkmark, according to a 2018 report from Media Matters For America.
Read more
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to monkeypox can be found here.
