Woman arrested for mocking Mauritius coronavirus fight

Police in Mauritius have charged a young woman for sharing an image mocking Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth which they termed "fake news".

Rachna Seenauth shared the post with text saying that the prime minister would hold a teleconference with world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping, to advise them on how Mauritius was successfully combating the Covid-19 outbreak.

"[The world leaders] will ask Mauritian PM about the miracle treatment and methods being used in his country where Covid-19 testing frequently returns 'zero positive' results," the text on the image said.

Toby Mendel, Director of the Center for Law and Democracy, defended Ms Seenauth saying the post was just "humour":

"[This] case highlights the particular importance of protecting satire and other humorous statements, and not treating them as though they were statements of fact,

Mauritius has confirmed 328 cases of Covid-19 but last week the island nation, which is a popular tourist spot, went five days without reporting a new case.