Singapore orders Twitter & Facebook to issue corrections on 'new variant' as row escalates

Further clarifying the non-existence of a new 'Singapore variant' of COVID-19, the Singapore Ministry of Health on Thursday, directed social media giants Twitter and Facebook to issue corrections of the statement. Citing the Protection from Online Falsehoods & Manipulation Act (POFMA), the Singapore government stated, 'There's no new "Singapore" variant of COVID-19. Neither is there evidence of any variant that is ‘extremely dangerous for kids’. Strain that's prevalent in recent weeks is B.1.617.2 variant which originated from India'. This development comes over an online row between Delhi CM Kejriwal, MEA and Singapore.

Singapore MOH clarifies on 'new variant'

The statement added, "Existence & spread of the B.1.617.2 variant within India predates detection of the variant in Singapore, and this has been publicly known and reported by various media sources from as early as 5 May 2021. In this regard, POFMA Office has to issue general correction directions to Facebook, Twitter and SPH Magazines Pte Ltd. All of them are required to carry the correction notice to all end-users in Singapore".

The Singapore variant 'row'

The controversy began on May 16 when  Singapore announced the closure of all primary and secondary schools and junior colleges from Wednesday, citing that the new novel coronavirus variants including the one that originated in India are affecting more children. In response, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal asked Centre to cease travel between India and Singapore and work on vaccine alternatives for children on a priority basis. Taking umbrage at Kejriwal's tweet to Centre, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan tweeted, 'Politicians should stick to facts! There is no Singapore variant'.

The Singapore government summoned India's High Commissioner and conveyed strong objection to Kejriwal's tweet. Assuring that the Delhi CM had "no competence" to pronounce on COVID-19 variants or Civil Aviation policy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar warned that such "irresponsible comments" can damage the longstanding bilateral ties between the two countries. Thanking his counterpart for this clarification, Vivian Balakrishnan noted that the focus should be on tackling the situation in their respective nations.

Singapore has maintained that none of the children who have contracted the virus is seriously ill and a few have mild symptoms. It has also concluded after phylogenetic testing that it was the B.1.617.2 variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore. Concerns were raised as Singapore reported 38 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the highest daily number since mid-September of 2019.