The Ministry of Health (MoH) has refuted rumours about a new type of communicable fever spread by mosquitoes in the country.
“We don’t have any such cases as of now. Rumours of fever spread by mosquitoes are baseless,” an MoH official told the Observer.
Rumours are doing the rounds for the last two days about the presence of a mosquito from an Asian country that stings people, causing rashes all over the body, followed by flu and fever.
“Some messages on social media suggest that once the mosquito bites you, it takes a few days before you get flu followed by fever and rashes all over your body,” said a flight attendant who received such a message.
She said the rumour was circulating among her colleagues for a few days now.
She said the disease is allegedly contagious and is a viral infection that can affect anyone regardless of the age.
But the MoH representative said: “People should stop listening to the unreliable social media on matters of grave importance and check with authorities concerned before they act upon messages received on social networking platforms.”
KABEER YOUSUF
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