Moroccan authorities on Wednesday called for vigilance in the face of the multiplication of “fake news” concerning the epidemic of new coronavirus, with at least three arrests of bad jokers in recent days.
"Some accounts on social networks and instant messaging applications (...) publish false and erroneous information attributed to official institutions" to announce preventive health measures, according to a statement released Wednesday by the Moroccan Ministry of 'Interior.
"All legal provisions will be taken" against fake news
On Tuesday, the Moroccan Ministry of Education strongly denounced "a fake photo" circulating on social networks to announce the closure of all schools in the country from Wednesday. On the same day, the daily L'Economiste denied "false information" circulating with its official logo on social networks concerning a "new home" in a suburb of Casablanca.
"All legal measures will be taken (...) to identify the people involved in the publication of these allegations and lies", warns the interior press release.
Two people who were shooting hoax videos in the street announcing to passers-by that they had been infected abroad "to see their reactions" were thus arrested in Marrakech (center), according to a message posted on Tuesday on the twitter account of the security national (DGSN). The DGSN had already announced last week the arrest of a resident of Tetouan (north) who had announced in a video "save deaths related to the virus".
First cases in Morocco and Algeria
The kingdom reported on Monday a first confirmed case of Covid-19 contamination concerning a Moroccan from Italy, placed in isolation in a hospital in Casablanca. Since then, several public events such as the annual agricultural fair or a Judo Grand Prix have been canceled as a precaution.
The wildest rumors and the most unusual preventive advice began to circulate on Moroccan social networks after the announcement of a first case declared in neighboring Algeria on February 25.
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