Wary of false information about pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to develop in a very complicated manner, especially with the appearance of new coronavirus variants. Following the recent holiday, there is a high risk of pandemic outbreaks in the community as new COVID-19 cases have been detected in many localities, with complicated travel schedules.

The local police forces working with one of the two people posting false information about the pandemic in Nghe An province. (Photo: baonghean)
The local police forces working with one of the two people posting false information about the pandemic in Nghe An province. (Photo: baonghean)

While authorities at all levels and functional forces are actively working to take necessary measures to control and prevent the pandemic, more and more false and unproven information about the pandemic is appearing on social media, causing confusion in public opinion.

Recently, a facebooker's status about the risk of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has been spreading on social networks. It is worth mentioning that this person misrepresented the statement of Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam at the recent meeting of the National Steering Committee on the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The facebooker gave unfounded information that may easily scare readers such as "when the pandemic outbreaks, Vietnam will surely rise to the top 1”, “the State will not care about infected patients and COVID-19 patients discharged from hospital will no longer be given flowers”, “Hanoi with 11 million people has only about 300 ventilators”, and so on.

It is worrisome that the aforementioned information is being shared at a dizzying pace, causing negative reactions in the community. Unfortunately, this is not the only case in cyberspace.

The authorised agencies have urgently stepped in to discover and strictly handle violators for posting false information on social networks.

On May 7, the police force of Ha Nam Province issued fines, totalling about VND15 million, regarding two cases of posting untruthful content about the COVID-19 situation in Liem Can Commune, Thanh Liem District, on social networks, while the violators were also forced to remove the false information.

In the central province of Nghe An, on May 7, the provincial police summoned two people living in Vinh City because of their posting false information about the pandemic.

Specifically, these two subjects posted photos of test result sheets of the Centre for Disease Control of Nghe An Province which was edited to show a person testing positive for COVID-19 virus, causing confusion and anxiety among the local people.

These are just two of the latest cases related to the abuse of social networks to post fake news about the pandemic in recent days.

It can be seen that the appearance and spread of fake news has created significant impacts on psychology and life within the community. Amid the current complicated pandemic context, panic and excessive fear can easily cause unnecessary chain reactions and the risk of losing control, leading to unpredictable consequences.

As a result of such inaccurate information, many organisations, individuals and businesses have suffered heavy consequences in recent times.

Therefore, at this time, people need to be very calm and should cooperate with the authorities and functional agencies to make medical declarations, strictly comply with pandemic prevention regulations, and limit gathering.

People must also be alert and cautious when receiving information on social networks, avoid listening to unfounded rumours and unconfirmed information, and absolutely avoid the sharing of unverified information.

The pandemic will be controlled and prevented if there is the consensus and determination of people from all walks of life and the entire political system.