Police and Health Ministry tell residents to stay at home and stop circulating fake newsDubai: Authorities are clamping down on rumours, and are warning residents that spreading rumours is a serious offence that will be severely penalised.

Any person found circulating fake news will also face legal action and be temporarily imprisoned.

On Wednesday, the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) issued a cautionary notice to residents not to circulate rumours on any other type pf information unless published by verified sources. It also urged the public to follow all preventive measures issued by official health authorities in the country with regard to the coronavirus, and stressed that spreading fake news about COVID-19 is “causing more harm than the virus itself.”

As of April 1, the UAE recorded a total to 664 COVID-19 cases and six deaths.

Rumours
What are some of the fake news going around social media? According to Ajman Police, some of the popular fabrications claim that the UAE’s number is higher than officially recorded, that a sneeze of an infected person can contaminate people up to eight metres away, and that a coronavirus patient can die within days of contracting the virus.

Article 197 of the UAE penal law stipulates that any person who uses any means to share or publish rumours shall be sentenced to temporary imprisonment.

Article 198 of the federal law further states that any person who intentionally disseminates false or malicious news, statements, rumours or disruptive propaganda, intending to prejudice the public security, to spread fear among people or to inflict damage to public interest, shall be punished.

SOURCE : GULFNEWS