MOHW Warns Public Against Public Misinformation

Last week the Ministry of Health and Wellness issued a release warning the public against misinformation. The ministry warned against a Whatsapp message being shared regarding the COVID-Omicron XBB subvariant that was not released by the ministry. The Ministry advises the public not to share this WhatsApp message as the information is false and will cause unnecessary panic and continued misinformation. Speaking more on this is Dr Melissa Diaz, the Director of Health and Wellness. 

Dr.Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Public Health and Wellness: “Unfortunately we haven’t investigated where it originated. I had seen this Whatsapp message earlier last year probably in November or October but it was not circulating like it did a few days ago. I don’t think that our opinion is that that didn’t originate from Belize because I have also seen other Caribbean countries and CARPHA has also said that they’ve received a lot of information that this fake Whatsapp message has been circulating not only in Belize but in many of the other countries of the Caribbean. So I’m not certain where it originated, which country it was and I believe it’s just something that came into Belize and was circulated locally. You know people may have genuinely thought that it was something from the Ministry of Health in Belize but I don’t have much more information on that.”