By Glory Msowoya, MANA
Information and Communication Technologies Association of Malawi (ICTAM) has partnered with Facebook in creating an information centre on Coronavirus (COVID-19) to curb fake news and misinformation.
ICTAM president, Bram Fudzulani told Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Tuesday that the information centre would help Facebook users in getting all the right information and timely updates on COVID-19 from trusted sources.
ICTAM president Bram Fudzulani
He said the partnership with Facebook on COVID-19 Information Centre comes after noticing some fake social media campaign and messages on Facebook and WhatsApp.
According to Fudzulani, such messages have, to some extent, caused panic in the public.
“The COVID-19 Information Centre is featured at the top of News Feed that provides a central place for people to keep informed about the Coronavirus,” Fudzulani said.
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“It will act as a single source of truth on all official communications from the Ministry of Health and other partners like COVID-19 Data Surveillance, World Health Organisation as well as helpful articles, videos and posts about social distancing and preventing the spread of the virus.”
Fudzulani, therefore, urged Malawians to utilise the opportunity provided to avoid spreading false news on COVID-19 in the country.
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“There is need for Malawians to utilise the information centre on Coronavirus so that they should not be cheated once they come across fake news.
“In doing this, they will be able to prevent and tell others the truth about COVID-19,” Fudzulani said.
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The Information Centre forms part of Facebook’s effort to help in the global fight against COVID-19 by providing people with latest news and information from trusted health authorities as well as resources and tips to stay healthy and support their family and community.
More than 17 countries across the sub-Saharan Africa — that include Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mali — have the Coronavirus information centre on Facebook.
Health Minister Jappie Mhango
Meanwhile, Minister of Health and Population, Jappie Mhango on Monday announced the country has registered 2 more cases of COVID-19, making 36 cases in total.
At a press briefing in Lilongwe, Mhango one new case is a 47-year-old male from Chileka in Blantyre, who arrived in Malawi from Tanzania on April 18 and was on self quarantine while the other is a 45-year-old male from Area 2 (Livimbo) in Lilongwe but has no travel history.
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The minister further reported the infected person in Area 2 got the disease through local transmission, saying he developed symptoms like those of flue and family members called the rapid response team for tests and results came positive.
He added that the team working on COVID-19 took samples from close contacts of the infected person in Lilongwe and trace all the workers at his business premises.
With these new cases, the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 36, including three deaths and four recoveries.
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According to Mhango, the remaining 29 cases are all clinically stable with mild symptoms, saying in the past 24 hours several tests have been sampled.
He further said during sampling, some cases came out negative; others were positive while others are pending results.
“In the past 24 hours, the lab in Mzuzu had 34 samples tested where one case came out positive, 31 came out negative while two are pending results.
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“Lilongwe had three samples, one came out positive and two were negative while Blantyre had 24 samples, one was positive, 22 were negative and one is pending results,” he explained.
Mhango has urged the nation to continue observing prevention guidelines that government has put in place.
Some guidelines include regular hand washing, observing social distance, avoiding handshakes and observing self quarantine rules as provided if one has recently returned from hot spot countries.—Additional reporting by Esnath Kalawe, MANA