The social media was Monday awash with pictures of an ambulance carrying a coffin in Ekwendeni, Mzimba District, which some people alleged was to be buried by health officials who would later claim that it contained the body of a person who had succumbed to Covid-19.

Then the issue was linked to Minister of Health Jappie Mhango whom some quarters claimed had sent the team to bury the coffin with the aim of scaring people that the disease is real and deadly.

However, according to St John of God Hospitaller Services, the team had gone to the area to record a health education movie on Covid-19.

The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer, Charles Masulani Mwale, said the team sought permission from the village head and that they were not chased away as the social media portrayed it.

“While management condemns the behaviour of staff on the choice of the setting of the video in Ekwendeni, we would like to categorically state that there was no political influence, nor involvement of any politician in this matter.

“This is mere fabrication of false news through irresponsible use of social media and we condemn it in strongest terms,” Mwale said.

The alleged setting of the scene of the movie was a graveyard apparently to depict how the body of a person who has died with Covid-19 is buried.

The team that was reportedly shooting the movie went to the area on an ambulance with an empty coffin and put on personal protective equipment as part of the set.