(Bloomberg) — Singapore’s Ministry of Health has issued an order to Facebook Inc requiring correction to be made over what it says are falsehoods circulating online which suggested that a three-year-old child had died of Covid-19.
As of Aug. 14, there has been no case of any child that has died from COVID-19 at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital or any other hospital in Singapore, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, or POFMA, Office to issue a general correction direction to Facebook. The order requires the company to carry a notice stating that the post contains falsehoods to all end-users in Singapore
“The government takes a serious view of the deliberate communication of these false statements, and criminal investigations under POFMA will be conducted,” Ministry of Health said.
The health ministry issued the statement in response to a post by a user known as Eileen Loh, which also claimed that the “Delta Plus” Covid-19 variant was now present in Singapore. The “Delta Plus” variant has also not been identified in any of the country’s known Covid-19 cases, the ministry said.
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