MOH Calls Police After Covid-19 Numbers Leak, Afternoon Rumours Started Before Nightly Updates

MOH Reports Covid-19 Numbers Leak To Police, Investigations Ongoing

Besides having to contend with the pandemic, the Ministry of Health (MOH) now has another area of concern — the leak of Covid-19 numbers before the daily updates.

In the past few days, messages containing ‘insider info’ of the daily Covid-19 figures made rounds on chat messaging platforms before MOH officially released the information to the public.

Source

While the figures have hit and missed, MOH have decided to take action with “hello polis” as their response.

On Saturday (18 Apr), a spokesperson said, “The Ministry of Health is aware of the incident. We have made a police report and police investigations are ongoing,” reported Channel NewsAsia (CNA).

Numbers have been circulating the past week

While many numbers have circulated on chat messaging platforms the past few days, only 1 hit the nail on the head so far.

On Thursday (16 Apr), it was rumoured that 728 cases of Covid-19 would be confirmed.

Hours later, MOH’s daily update revealed that there were indeed 728 confirmed cases that day.

This gave a bit of legitimacy to the next rumour that 1,146 cases were going to be reported on Friday (17 Apr), which is a startling figure.

Fortunately or unfortunately, 623 cases were reported on 17 Apr.

Insiders privy to confidential info should remain trustworthy

Insiders privy to confidential information should remain trustworthy. As the age old adage goes, snitches get stitches.

In this case, insiders might find themselves arrested under the Official Secrets Act if caught divulging confidential information under embargo. Remember the couple who were jailed for leaking MOE statements on school closure before the official announcement?

Let’s just focus on our safe distancing so that we actually help lower the case numbers instead.

Featured image adapted from Tripadvisor.