The coronavirus pandemic has thrown many countries into recession - but what exactly is it and how could it affect you?

Reality Check

Bangladesh says it will stop providing daily updates on coronavirus infections and deaths in the country from 12 August. Health Minister Zahid Maleque says this is because “we believe the infection rate is decreasing and the situation is getting under control.”

In its latest weekly report, the World Health Organization (WHO) says new cases in the country have dropped by 2.5% from the previous week.

But the headline figure masks a more complicated reality - reported cases are fluctuating widely, with daily tallies ranging between 900 and 3,000 since the start of August, according to WHO data.

This may well be to do with the amount of testing being carried out, which has also fluctuated widely – from around 12,000 a day in July, then down to less than 4,000 in early August and back up to 12,000 again.

The authorities attributed the drop in testing to severe flooding in July as well as what they say is the unwillingness of people to get tested due to a lack of trust in medical facilities.

And Bangladesh still has a high rate of positive tests - at the end of last week it was nearly a quarter of all tests which suggests that only a small proportion of the true number of infections is being picked up., external

We've taken a look into some of the most widely-shared false stories about the pandemic across Africa.

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Peter Mwai
BBC Reality Check

The office of Malawi's president has responded angrily to a Twitter account pretending to be him and went on to take a stand on Zimbabwean politics in a series of tweets.

“It is the illegal work of charlatans and impostors with no connection to his Excellency,” a statement from the president's office says.

On Monday a Twitter account, describing itself as belonging to the president, posted messages in support of opposition figures and human rights campaigners in Zimbabwe.

“l would like to express my deep concern to the people of Zimbabwe , you deserve to be listened to,” one of the tweets read.

Some online users mistook it for the official account, praising the president for his stand.

The account in question was created in May 2012 and has been changing names frequently. This week the Twitter handle has changed three times.

One of those times the account was changed to @LAZARUSCHAKWARA - which spells President Lazarus Chakwera's last name incorrectly.

The president's real account is @LAZARUSCHAKWERA and was created two years ago.

The government is in the process of ensuring the president’s account is verified by Twitter, spokesperson Sean Kampondeni told the BBC.

Verified accounts have a blue badge - with a tick - appearing next to the name on an account's profile and next to the account name in search results. This lets people know that an account is authentic.

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Peter Mwai
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Image source, Getty Images

Coronavirus cases could be much higher in Africa than the official data suggests, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a leading global humanitarian relief organisation.

The IRC says testing shortfalls and poor access to data mean that “we are fighting this disease in the dark.”, external

“Testing rates fall far below World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines,” it says of the 20 African countries where it operates.

It points out that confirmed cases doubled in July across Africa, and says it’s worried “this could be the tip of the iceberg”.

The continent currently has more than 890,000 confirmed cases, according to the WHO.

It agrees that because testing rates are lower, some cases and deaths may have been missed.

However, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s Africa director, has said she doesn’t believe there is a huge silent, pandemic killing people.

According to the African Centres for Disease Control, about 8.3 million people have been tested out of the continent’s total population of 1.3 billion.

You can read more about how the virus is spreading in Africa from our Reality Check team.

Jake Horton
BBC Reality Check

Image source, Reuters

At his news conference on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said his administration was tracking "a significant rise in cases" in Portland and Seattle "because of what's been going on".

He was referring to protests over racial inequality and police violence. These have spread across the US, but the president singled out two cities on the west coast.

Looking at the data for the counties that include Portland and Seattle, there has been an uptick in reported coronavirus cases but the evidence linking this to the protests is weak.

Seattle's King county has seen a relatively modest increase in reported cases over the last few weeks, but Portland's Multnomah county has seen significant rise this month.

This increase in Portland, however, is similar to the trends being experienced in other parts of the US where protests have not taken place. Studies have shown , externalthere to be no significant link between the two.

Oregon's Health Officer, Dr Dean Sidelinger, said: "Protests and demonstrations may be a contributing factor, but evidence and case investigations just don't show that driving these large numbers." Plus, these protests are largely held outside where transmission is less likely.

We've also looked at the comment made by President Trump that "large portions" of the US are "corona-free".

There is not a single state that does not have a case of coronavirus and all states have registered new cases in the past week.

There are certainly parts of the country, particularly in rural areas, that have a much lower number of cases, but these are areas with very small populations.

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