Singapore — After debunking a post that claimed a three-year-old girl had died of Covid-19 at the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the Ministry of Health (MOH) issued an order directing Facebook to carry a correction notice to all end-users in Singapore who are on Facebook.
The post, shared by a netizen named Eileen Loh, claimed that the child had been admitted to KKH on Aug 8 with a high fever and had recently passed away. She also insinuated that the little girl’s death had deliberately not been reported in the media.
MOH released an announcement on Facebook calling the post “untrue and a total fabrication,” the ministry added, writing that “As of Aug 14, there has been no child who has died from Covid-19 at KKH.”
“We urge the public to refrain from spreading rumours and misinformation, added the ministry.
In an update on Sunday (Aug 15), MOH wrote that the Minister for Health had instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a General Correction Direction to Facebook.
“The Government takes a serious view of the deliberate communication of these false statements, and criminal investigations under POFMA will be conducted,” MOH added.
The ministry further debuted yet another claim in the post by Ms Loh, which said that the “Delta Plus” variant of CovId-19 is now present in the country.
MOH wrote also that as of 14 Aug, it had “not identified the ‘Delta Plus’ variant in any of Singapore’s known COVID-19 cases.”
The wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Madam Ho Ching, re-posted the fake news of Ms Loh, with an appeal to alert the netizen “that this is untrue and wrong of her to put out wrongful allegations below.”
“Folks should always check with MOH for facts before starting to forward such dramatic allegations below,” she added.
/TISG
Read also: MOH: Information that 3-year-old died from Covid-19 at KKH untrue