Even as the new waves of coronavirus pandemic have put additional pressure on the health system worldwide, an intentional or unintentional misinformation campaign needs to be checked to ensure any further damage to the ongoing efforts to check the spread of the virus pandemic.
The common man is flooded with information on social media. Some are genuine, while many others are mass messages. They are generated to achieve the maximum number of clicks or just copy or pastes for the sake of passing them from one group to another.
These unverified messages are causing lots of misinformation. Many of them are suggesting self-medication even if someone catches the Covid-19 virus. Others offer the herbal way to treat the virus, as it is nothing but a mild symptom that can be treated easily with herbals.
“In one of the viral videos, I found someone suggesting to put lemon drops in the nostrils to get rid of the disease. It is an unsafe practice that can damage vital nose nerves and cause major health or breathing issue,” Dr John, ENT specialist.
A clinical psychologist suggested people look only for authentic news, as many are victims of too much information that is affecting their mental health.
She suggested people be well informed and not over-informed, as the brain has its limits, and anything in excess can cause mental stress. Too much of it may lead to psychiatric issues and medication.
“I see people talking against vaccination, use of mask and social distancing even though there are beneficiaries of the vaccination and steps taken by the government has resulted in the reduced number of cases. Why there are fewer positive cases after every lockdown? Because the lockdown breaks the chain, and there is an automatic social distancing,” said Mini Joseph.
Some other experts called for immediate measures to counter any misinformation. “Like, local media should take note of misinformation that is becoming viral and come out with right information contradicting the viral message.”
This, according to them, would lead to spreading the right information among all sections of people and updating them with new developments to manage the pandemic.
“The traditional media has an added responsibility to update the medical specialists, clinicians, patients and caregivers, who are constantly busy with the new strains of the pandemic and offering the patients the best possible treatment,” said Abdul Qadir, an expert in media management.
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