ISSUANCE OF GENERAL CORRECTION DIRECTION UNDER THE PROTECTION FROM ONLINE FALSEHOODS AND MANIPULATION ACT ON FALSEHOODS ON ALLEGED DEATH OF THREE-YEAR-OLD GIRL FROM COVID-19

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is aware of a false statement circulating online in a Facebook post by a user, Eileen Loh, on 14 August 2021, about a three-year-old preschooler who had allegedly passed away from COVID-19 at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), and that the death was deliberately not reported.

2. The Minister for Health has instructed the POFMA Office to issue a General Correction Direction¹ to Facebook. Facebook is required to carry the Correction Notice to all end-users in Singapore who use Facebook.

3. The Government takes a serious view of the deliberate communication of these false statements, and criminal investigations under POFMA will be conducted.

Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods on the alleged death of a three-year-old from COVID-19

4. As of 14 August, there has been no case of any child that has died from COVID-19 at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) or any other hospital in Singapore.

Additional clarifications 

5. The post also claimed that the “Delta Plus” variant of COVID-19 is now present in Singapore. As of 14 August, MOH has not identified the “Delta Plus” variant in any of Singapore’s known COVID-19 cases.

6. For facts of the case, please refer to the Factually article “Corrections and Clarifications Regarding Falsehoods on alleged death of three-year-old girl from COVID-19” at https://www.gov.sg/article/factually150821.

7. We urge the public not to spread unsubstantiated information, which may cause public alarm. Please visit www.moh.gov.sg for latest updates on the COVID-19 situation.

[1] A General Correction Direction is a Direction issued to prescribed Internet Intermediaries, prescribed telecom and broadcast licensees, and/or prescribed permit holders of the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act that would require them to communicate, publish, broadcast or transmit a correction notice to their users in Singapore. In this case, Facebook will be required to display a correction notice with a link to the facts to all Singapore Facebook users. This is to inform them that there was such a blatant fabrication circulating on the platform, which they may have come across.