Mayor Sara Duterte has appealed to the public to refrain from spreading fake news and unverified information on COVID-19 to avoid causing panic.
“Facebook is the one infected with COVID-19,” she jested, adding that many people, especially in social media sites, are fond of spreading unverified information from unreliable sources.
“This may cause panic and chaos, the posting of fake news in any social media platforms of people whose information are not from a reliable source,” she said.
She said that people have more time now on their social media sites while they are staying at home.
“We have nothing to do in our homes, so social media, especially Facebook, has become our world. Whatever we see on Facebook or any platform becomes our world,” she said.
She said that Davaoenos should only post or share verified information from authorized and official social media accounts of the Department of Health, the city government of Davao, Byaheng Do30, and the Davao City Disaster Radio.
The city mayor also asked the public to report bogus sites or fake news so they would be taken down by Facebook.
Finally, instead of focusing on the number of positive cases for COVID-19, people must focus more on how to contain the spread of the disease by closely following the preventive measures. It means staying at home, practicing social distancing, regular washing of hands with soap and water, staying away from people who have a travel history in areas with positive cases, and calling the Covid-19 Operation Center if they experience flu-like symptoms and diarrhea.
