Hanoi police crack down on Covid-19 epidemic fake news

Hanoi police have taken strong actions to prevent Covid-19 epidemic fake news, Kinh Te & Do Thi newspaper reported.

As the Covid-19 epidemic evolves unpredictably, fabricated news has sprung up out over social networks, creating unnecessary concern and panic among people.

The police made a report on administrative violation of a girl spreading Covid - 19 rumors. Photo: Hai Yen

In order to contain misinformation, Hanoi police have made a list of people fabricating false information about Covid-19 to strictly handle in accordance with regulations. As of March 11, 23 cases have been dealt with.

From January 31 to February 14, local police asked 11 individuals to remove fake contents they had posted on Facebook and YouTube. These people were fined up to millions of Vietnamese dong and were forced to commit not to repeat the offense.

Director of the Hanoi Department of Health Nguyen Khac Hien emphasized that junk news hinders tasks of health authorities and should be prevented so as not to affect the epidemic prevention.

Under the direction of the Hanoi People's Committee, information about the epidemic evolution such as the number infected cases is published promptly on mainstream media. Authorities encourage the people to get updated from official news sources.

Besides, the municipal government recommends people do not share unverified information to avoid causing public confusion.

Hanoi confirmed the first infection on March 6 evening and since then six other cases have been detected in the city. As of March 13, Vietnam reported 47 people positive with the coronavirus.