The Health Service Executive has hit out at claims on social media that multiple nurses in Ireland had passed away from Covid-19.
Tweets posted from a small number of Twitter accounts on Monday reported that several nurses who had been diagnosed with coronavirus had died.
The HSE, who acknowledged that they do not comment on individual cases in order to respect privacy, responded to what they called “fake news” at midday on Tuesday.
A Tweet from the official HSE account reads: “@HSELive doesn’t comment on individual cases to protect people’s privacy. However, when we become aware of fake news that causes distress to our staff and families we must act. Contrary to tweets sent yesterday – thankfully none of our nurses have died in Ireland from #COVID19.”
@HSELive doesn’t comment on individual cases to protect people’s privacy. However, when we become aware of fake news that causes distress to our staff and families we must act. Contrary to tweets sent yesterday – thankfully none of our nurses have died in Ireland from #COVID19.
— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) March 31, 2020
In recent weeks, social media sites have vowed to clamp down on the spread of misinformation on Covid-19 by deleting posts that were found to be baseless.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has also asked for those spreading rumours on WhatsApp to stop doing so immediately.
“I am urging everyone to please stop sharing unverified info on What’s app groups,” he tweeted two weeks ago.
“These messages are scaring and confusing people and causing real damage.
“Please get your info from official, trusted sources.”
