The Cyberspace Administration of China on Thursday launched a campaign aimed at “creating an auspicious and festive environment” and “rectifying rumors” about COVID-19 during the Lunar New Year festivities.
The body promised, in a statement, to “avoid the dissemination of harmful information” and publications on social networks about the epidemic situation that could “mislead society and cause panic.”
The Cyberspace Administration also said it will search for “secret virus recipes” and “false patient testimonials” after drug shortages and heavy hospital pressure have led people to resort to home remedies and dubious solutions, such as the consumption of canned peaches, in order to prevent the worsening of symptoms caused by Covid-19 infection.
According to a recent study by Peking University, around 900 million people have contracted Covid-19 in China, after the country dismantled the ‘zero cases’ policy in early December.
Last Monday, the body that is in charge of censoring ‘online’ content in China identified several “rumors” likely to “seriously damage the social order.”
The regulator detected on Chinese social networks “unfounded accusations”, “pseudoscience” and other behaviors that “stirred public sentiment”.
As for the misinformation about the novel coronavirus, the government mentioned information circulating on the Chinese internet about some patients infected with the original strain of the virus, from 2019, or health advice such as that you cannot take ibuprofen after recovering from the infection. .
The organization also stated that it will be attentive, during the festive period, to Internet users who “show off wealth” and “promote food waste.”
Hundreds of millions of Chinese immigrant workers in cities are returning to their homeland to celebrate the main Chinese family festival, which this year falls between January 21 and 27.
This is the largest internal migration on the planet and coincides, this year, with the end of the ‘zero cases’ policy of Covid-19, which for almost three years restricted the internal flow of people in the country.
The State Council (Executive) urged, in mid-December, local authorities to give priority to health services in rural areas “to protect the population”, pointing out the “relative scarcity of medical resources” given the high number of planned trips.
China’s National Health Commission announced last Saturday a total of 59,938 deaths between December 8 and January 12 this year.
World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that China was not providing full numbers of deaths from Covid-19 in the current outbreak, preventing it from realizing the true extent of the pandemic. disease worldwide.
China argues that it has shared its data “in an open, timely and transparent manner” since the start of the pandemic.
Source: TSF
