India: The Singapore Ministry of Health on Thursday quoted its anti-misinformation law, the POFMA or Protection from Online Falsehoods & Manipulation Act a day after Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal wrote about the coronavirus variant from Singapore on Twitter.
The MOH directed POFMA Office to issue a general correction notification to Facebook, Twitter, and SPH Magazines Pte Ltd (Hardware Zone forum). These Social platforms are required to carry the Correction Notice to all end-users in Singapore who use Facebook, Twitter, and HardwareZone.com. The notice read,” There is no new “Singapore” variant of COVID 19. Neither is their evidence of any COVID-19 variant that is ‘extremely dangerous for kids.” It further stated that the B.1.617.2 variant was largely detected in its COVID positive patients. It identified the B.1.617.2 variant in Singapore, a mutation that originated in India as reported by various media sources.
The Delhi CM on Tuesday, spoke about an alleged Singapore variant of the virus said to be dangerous for children. His tweet said,” New form of coronavirus in Singapore is said to be very dangerous for children. It could reach Delhi in the form of a third wave. My appeal to the Central government: 1. Cancel all air services with Singapore with immediate effect 2. Work on vaccine alternatives for children on a priority basis.”
Singapore High Commissioner Simon Wong on Wednesday came down heavily on Arvind Kejriwal for his tweet on an alleged dangerous variant of COVID-19, saying that Singapore reserves the right to invoke his country’s online fake news Act on the Delhi Chief Minister’s assertions.
Later, the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also commented on the matter. Jaishankar asserted that Kejriwal doesn’t speak for India