CLAIM
While countries around the world are making efforts to contain COVID-19, an article by a website named World News Daily Report being shared widely on social media platforms claims that Belgium’s Health Minister Maggie De Block has banned ‘non-essential’ sexual activities of three or more persons.
The article claims that she announced in the country’s Parliament that Belgium is the ‘beer-drinking’ and ‘group sex capital of Europe’ and hence such measures were essential in view of the novel coronavirus.
It goes on to say that she mentioned that ‘single or two-person’ sexual practices are not banned and these measures apply only to human-to-human sexual contact, not human-to-animal contact.
We found that the article has been shared massively on social media platforms.
A Twitter user named Ursual Keiner wrote, “In other news: #Belgium prohibits sexual acts of more that 3 people after 500 person #orgy spread #coronavirus. However, #bestiality is still allowed.”
(You can find the archived version of the tweet here.)
Many Facebook users also shared the same message through their posts.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The story has no truth to it. No such measures have been announced by Maggie De Block and the article is a work of satirical fiction.
There is a disclaimer at the end of the website that clearly mentions that the articles are ‘satirical’ and ‘fictional’ in nature and all characters appearing in the articles, even those based on real people, are ‘entirely fictional’ in nature.
The Quint has debunked fake news related to this website several times and one such piece can be viewed here.
Evidently, a satirical platform’s article is being shared to spread fake news amidst the global panic over COVID-19.
You can read all our fact-checked stories on coronavirus outbreak here.
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