IDI Reminds The Danger Of Hoaxes That Can Be More Deadly Than Viruses

JAKARTA - The Chief Executive of the Mitigation Daily for the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Mahesa Paranadipa warned of the dangers of health hoaxes, especially regarding COVID-19, which can have a more deadly impact than the virus.

"The spread of false information related to COVID-19 is faster than the transmission of the virus itself. The impact (hoaxes) is even more deadly than the virus itself. Because of that, you can imagine people who still don't believe in the existence of COVID-19, don't believe the countermeasures we are taking today had a tremendous impact," Mahesa said, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, July 27.

Mahesa noted, to this day there are still people and even health workers who do not believe in COVID-19. According to him, this is a tough homework for everyone, not only the government and medical personnel in the midst of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

On July 22, the Ministry of Communication and Information noted that the number of hoaxes on COVID-19 reached 1786 with a total distribution of 3499. This false information was spread across several social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. While on the previous day, hoaxes were recorded around 1780 with a distribution of 3925.

According to Mahesa, the role of civil society is important to eradicate health hoaxes, especially those related to COVID-19.

On the other hand, IDI hopes that the public can be more open in understanding and ultimately able to be disciplined in implementing health protocols as an effort to prevent being exposed to the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"We hope that the role of civil society can jointly fight health hoaxes, especially those related to COVID-19. We hope that the public will be more open in their understanding of today's situation and we hope that open understanding will result in better countermeasures in the future, the community will be more disciplined," Mahesa said.