Coronavirus: Think before you click, forward fake news - Ghanaians told

It appears government has got multiple situations it is grappling with as far as the fight against the fast-spreading Coronavirus pandemic is concerned.

Apart from the phenomenon of having to crack the whip on persons bent on defying the directive of lockdown and compliance with social distancing, there is a surge in the spread of fake news on social media platforms.

An Adviser to the National Response Team, Dr. Ama Kyerewaa Edwin, in view of that has challenged Ghanaians to be circumspect and verify information they acquire before quickly forwarding.

She said the phenomenon of forwarding unverified information was tantamount to attesting to what was being spread.

“…Share accurate texted information. If you hit the forward button, it means you are attesting to it. The worse is people who don’t read what they are forwarding. What is the essence? She quizzed.

What you want to do is to make sure that the information you’re sharing is true, empowering, it’s what people deal with and are going through and not generate fear and anxiety in people,” she added.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong also berated politicians who were using social media platforms to spread false information about the viral disease and urged against the politicization of the phenomenon.

He disclosed that all persons who have been involved in such acts will be picked up and prosecuted as the law demands.

“Those in the ruling party, those in opposition who think that this is a good time for misinforming the public for parochial political gain, you’re being plainly irresponsible. This is not the time when we need to spread facts and knowledge to people so that they can protect themselves,” he noted.



Meanwhile, Ghana has achieved another stride in the case management of confirmed Coronavirus cases as the nation has now recorded 17 full recoveries.

Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Aboagye disclosed during Tuesday morning’s Press briefing by the Ministry of Information.

Adding details to this information, Dr Aboagye said an additional 66 persons who tested positive of the virus have now tested negative for the virus.

He, however, disclosed that for a patient to be declared fully recovered, the patient must test negative after going through two different tests.

Since the onset of the outbreak of the viral disease in the country, there have been several forms of misinformation as well as fake news being shared on the internet, especially commonly used platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp.

Government through the Ministry of Information and the Ghana Health Service have overtime cleared up misinformation in the public domain and have cautioned against the practice to no avail.