Singapore orders social media to correct Indian politician’s allegation of local COVID-19 variant
(2021/05/21)
- Reference: 1621565952
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/21/singapore_protection_from_online_falsehoods_act/
- Source link:
Singapore’s Ministry of Health has invoked the island nation's Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act and required social media companies and media to refute reports that a local variant of the Coronavirus has been detected.
The Ministry's verbosely-titled [1]"General Correction Directions" stated:
There is no new “Singapore” variant of COVID-19. Neither is there evidence of any COVID-19 variant that is ‘extremely dangerous for kids’. The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases detected in Singapore in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated from India. The existence and spread of the B.1.617.2 variant within India predates the detection of the variant in Singapore, and this has been publicly known and reported by various media sources from as early as 5 May 2021.
The source of news about the "Singapore variant" appears to have come in a Tweet and Linkedin post from the chief minister of Indian city Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal.
Kerjiwal called for cancellation of flight services from Singapore. His Tweet has since been removed. His LinkedIn post was removed briefly but later reinstated:
[2]Singapore bolsters Bluetooth contact-tracing as new COVID wave sends students and workers home again
[3]Big dogs get new ride-share service from Singaporean giant Grab
[4]Singapore goes Cray-cray in the best way, picks HPE for new 10 PFLOPS super 'puter
[5]Microsoft pledges Malaysian Azure region after winning government cloud gig
Some Twitter users received the following alert from Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office:
You may have seen allegations that a new, previously unknown COVID-19 variant risks spreading to India from Singapore. This is false. There is no “Singapore” variant. For the correct facts, click here: [6]https://t.co/xCBynVJ24Q — Correction Notice (Singapore) (@POFMA_Notice) [7]May 19, 2021
COVID-19 new variants continue to [8]ravage India and are popping up globally.
The new mutated variants crept into Singapore with clusters occurring among Changi Airport employees and healthcare workers at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, many of whom had already been vaccinated.
[9]
[10]
In response, Singapore has instated [11]lockdown-lite regulations it is calling “Phase 2 Heightened Alert” which have resulted in the closure of restaurants, gyms and schools, limited group size and returned most of the working population to work-from-home policies. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/issuance-of-general-correction-directions-under-the-protection-from-online-falsehoods-and-manipulation-act-on-falsehoods-on-singapore-strain
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/17/singapore_changes_covid_tracking_tech/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/06/grab_petxl_rideshare_singapore/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/28/nscc_singapore_picks_hpe_cray_amd_for_new_super/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/20/azure_malaysia_promised/
[6] https://t.co/xCBynVJ24Q
[7] https://twitter.com/POFMA_Notice/status/1395060337976565766?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/05/india_tech_vaccine/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YKcwWJT998QJm72aAPnd3wAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKcwWJT998QJm72aAPnd3wAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/17/singapore_changes_covid_tracking_tech/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Ministry's verbosely-titled [1]"General Correction Directions" stated:
There is no new “Singapore” variant of COVID-19. Neither is there evidence of any COVID-19 variant that is ‘extremely dangerous for kids’. The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases detected in Singapore in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated from India. The existence and spread of the B.1.617.2 variant within India predates the detection of the variant in Singapore, and this has been publicly known and reported by various media sources from as early as 5 May 2021.
The source of news about the "Singapore variant" appears to have come in a Tweet and Linkedin post from the chief minister of Indian city Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal.
Kerjiwal called for cancellation of flight services from Singapore. His Tweet has since been removed. His LinkedIn post was removed briefly but later reinstated:
[2]Singapore bolsters Bluetooth contact-tracing as new COVID wave sends students and workers home again
[3]Big dogs get new ride-share service from Singaporean giant Grab
[4]Singapore goes Cray-cray in the best way, picks HPE for new 10 PFLOPS super 'puter
[5]Microsoft pledges Malaysian Azure region after winning government cloud gig
Some Twitter users received the following alert from Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office:
You may have seen allegations that a new, previously unknown COVID-19 variant risks spreading to India from Singapore. This is false. There is no “Singapore” variant. For the correct facts, click here: [6]https://t.co/xCBynVJ24Q — Correction Notice (Singapore) (@POFMA_Notice) [7]May 19, 2021
COVID-19 new variants continue to [8]ravage India and are popping up globally.
The new mutated variants crept into Singapore with clusters occurring among Changi Airport employees and healthcare workers at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, many of whom had already been vaccinated.
[9]
[10]
In response, Singapore has instated [11]lockdown-lite regulations it is calling “Phase 2 Heightened Alert” which have resulted in the closure of restaurants, gyms and schools, limited group size and returned most of the working population to work-from-home policies. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/issuance-of-general-correction-directions-under-the-protection-from-online-falsehoods-and-manipulation-act-on-falsehoods-on-singapore-strain
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/17/singapore_changes_covid_tracking_tech/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/06/grab_petxl_rideshare_singapore/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/28/nscc_singapore_picks_hpe_cray_amd_for_new_super/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/20/azure_malaysia_promised/
[6] https://t.co/xCBynVJ24Q
[7] https://twitter.com/POFMA_Notice/status/1395060337976565766?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/05/india_tech_vaccine/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YKcwWJT998QJm72aAPnd3wAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKcwWJT998QJm72aAPnd3wAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/17/singapore_changes_covid_tracking_tech/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
So evolution is real then
Just to remind everyone, evolution is real, verifiable, not just a theory..... here a virus mutating, and the faster spreading more successful versions are spreading faster. The UK Variant, the South African variant and the Indian variant is the one the Indian official is trying to distract from.
Totally predictable evolution of the virus. Not just a theory.
If you have a Fox News viewer friend, you might want to have an intervention, given their "curse worse than disease" helped kill more Americans than Hitler killed. And given their Tucker Carlson is trying to undermine vaccine rollout and kill a few more, trying and stop kids wearing masks to kill a few kids too.
You might want to bring your Republican buddies back to the real world, by pointing out the disingenuous lies that Fox News spews out, point out how the virus has mutated and is spreading more successfully now, with a healthy reminder of all the people it kills, and will kill if Tucker manages to convince them to not get vaccinated.
Fox News don't "own the Libs" by intentionally killing their own viewers by lying to them. So have a word, with your Fox News viewing buddies and try to get them to see the lies they're been told.
If they're religious, show them how their religious beliefs have been twisted and used against them, by Conservative media. Of course God knew evolution was real, it was the pundits on Conservative media, lying, pretending to be channeling God, as if God lies through Fox & Friends! They used religion against the religious to turn it their lies into a test of faith.
Evolution, real, provably, not just a theory.