UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday that the world is facing “a dangerous epidemic of misinformation” about COVID-19 and announced a UN campaign to flood the internet with facts and science to counter what he called “a poison” that is putting lives at risk. The UN chief decried what he described as a global “misinfo-demic” that is spreading harmful health advice, “snake-oil solutions,” falsehoods, and wild conspiracy theories. Guterres urged social media organizations to do more to counter the misinformation and to “root out hate and harmful assertions about COVID-19.”“Hatred is going viral, stigmatizing and vilifying people and groups,” he said in a video statement. “What we are doing is we will push out scientifically based information, information that will help us as a global community fight the virus,” he said. “With common cause for common sense and facts, we can defeat COVID-19 — and build a healthier, more equitable, just and resilient world.”

Source: Manila Times April 14, 2020 20:15 UTC