THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has taken action against a national lab worker for spreading misinformation on the Coronavirus.
A voice note doing the rounds on social media of a woman spreading false rumours of a mass “panic” at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital due to a number of patients being infected with the covid-19 virus.
The hospital has since denied this.
ALSO READ: South Africa is not prepared for the coronavirus – nurses’ union
The woman in the voice note has been tracked down and she works for the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), a state-owned laboratory service which hosts the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) as one of its subsidiaries.
It is still unclear at what capacity the woman is employed at by the NHLS.
Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, MEC for Health said the woman will be facing disciplinary action and called for people to not disseminate unverified information.
ALSO READ: Third case of coronavirus confirmed in South Africa
“While the production and dissemination of fake news is a global problem, it is unbecoming of state employees to involve themselves in such malicious conduct. They really should know better,” she said.
The MEC said only Dr Zweli Mkhize, the Health Minister, is authorised to confirm any news cases of Coronavirus after lab tests have been done.
This weekend, the Department of Health confirmed the third case of Coronavirus, the wife of the first patient.
The woman is also self-isolating, said the department.
Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via Telegram? Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts.
Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.
