Wuhan Virus: How To Get Ahead Of Fake News And Get Your Facts Right

Credit: China Daily via Reuters

Nobody can deny that the Wuhan Virus is a major talking point, but the increased interest can also means a surge in fake news and rumours. We’ve seen false claims of deaths on forums, rumours that MRT stations were closed for disinfection on social media and plenty of unsubstantiated remedies for keeping the virus at bay on messaging apps and group chats.

It’s getting easier for people to spread information that might not be accurate through the internet and social media, and at a speed that can be way faster than the virus itself. But it’s also easy to debunk these rumours, if you know where to look. Here are some sites that provide official updates.

1. Ministry of Health

Of course, the most reliable place to get updates on the situation in Singapore is from our own Ministry of Health’s website. They have a table which reflects new cases, suspected cases, pending test results and cases which have tested negative.

There’s also a table which has the total number of cases globally, in China and outside of China, but this might not always be the most updated.

If you want to read the press releases from the government related to the virus situation, they will also be available here for download.

2. Chinese Center For Disease Control And Prevention

How many cases are there exactly in each city in China? For those who want the latest update on the situation in China, the Chinese CDC’s website offers a wealth of information if you’re able to read Mandarin. Clicking on each province will result in a popup that tells the reader how many new suspected cases, new confirmed cases and new deaths there are on the day, as well as how many total suspected cases, total confirmed cases and total deaths have occurred in that province.

An interactive table by the left side also allows you to see in descending order which provinces have the most confirmed cases, suspected cases or deaths on the day that the site is visited.

On the right is a bar graph that shows the cumulative confirmed cases for each province as well as total suspected cases.

3. CNN’s List of Countries Affected

If you’re looking for something a bit more on the global scale, CNN has an article which is updated with new numbers for infections in the various countries that the virus has been confirmed in.

While not every country is kept up to date at all times (e.g. Singapore on the article is still showing as 13, while there are already 18 confirmed cases at the time of this article’s publication), most of the information is updated. It might not be the one-stop location for the most accurate and latest information, but it will be able to give anybody a brief overview of confirmed cases in different countries.

4. South China Morning Post’s Widget

Just want a quick glance at numbers? SCMP’s widget will work perfectly fine, although it’s not quite as comprehensive. Japan, Thailand and other countries are all grouped into “Rest of Asia”, which doesn’t quite reflect the current situation.

Still, it’s a convenient resource to send to others since it’s easily understandable and doesn’t require any scrolling to get to the point.

5. Johns Hopkins CSSE’s map

For a more visual representation of how the coronavirus has affected countries on a global scale, check out Johns Hopkins CSSE’s interactive map.

This is one of the more up-to-date maps that we’ve been able to find so far, with accurate data for even China’s infected cases.

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There are plenty of other resources on the web and this isn’t a comprehensive list. But as long as one takes the effort to do even basic research on rumours or news, it will definitely cut down on the amount of fake news spreading around.