Binita Adhikari
For the prevention and control of COVID-19 most of the countries have applied Lockdown mechanism. Similarly In Nepal also people are following lockdown by staying at home. Since most of the people are at home they are spending a lot of time in Social media .
During this pandemic ,correct information ,news plays an important role in prevention and control On the other hand Most of the Nepalese understood social media as Facebook only. Facebook have become quite popular among all aged groups. Unknowingly people are sharing incorrect news information about corona virus which has increased the misconceptions,false idea among them. There are a lot of examples: People were sharing the fake news where it had written Intake of alcohol can prevent corona virus disease .This is completely fake .This types of myth are shared by people on their facebook walls .In order to protect everyone from such myths and fake news WHO had published advice for public .So some of the Myth busters from The World health organization are as follow:
(1) Drinking alcohol doesn’t protect you against COVID-19 and it (drinking alcohol)can be dangerous.
(2) Exposing yourself to sun or to temperature more than 25degree Celsius doesn’t prevent coronavirus disease ( Countries with Hot temperature have also reported cases of CoVID-19)
(3) Cold weather and sun cannot kill the coronavirus
(4) You can recover from the COVID-19. Catching the new coronavirus does not mean you will have it for life
(5) The new coronavirus cannot be transmitted to mosquito bites.
Above mentioned are the facts about coronavirus according to WHO. So it is very important to share the news, views and information which has been written by or forwarded from the valid sources like MOHP (Ministry of Health and Population ), World health organizations And the most effective way to protect yourself against new coronavirus is by frequently cleaning your hands with soap and water. Youths can suggest their parents to believe the facts from valid source only and avoid the fake information and news.
-Binita Adhikari
Public Health Student