A viral message urging people to avoid several shopping centres in Subang Jaya, Selangor due to an outbreak of Covid-19 is untrue, the police reportedly said.
“Yes, we received it (the viral message) but it is fake. It is not true,” a Subang Jaya district police spokesperson reportedly told the New Straits Times today.
The spokesperson also said the claim that these places were off-limits to members of the public was untrue.
Versions of the message had been circulating on social media and instant messaging platforms, claiming that the government’s MySejatera app showed that these locations were Covid-19 hotspots.
One version reportedly sighted on Twitter read: “Dear Subang friends, check the MySejahtera app hotspot - avoid Empire, Subang Parade, and Mydin area. Two persons contracted Covid”.
Another version sighted by Malaysiakini mentioned the same shopping centres in Subang Jaya and claimed that Covid-19 cases had been reported within one kilometre of these places.
“Please avoid this area when you are going out,” it further urged.
For the record, the MySejahtera app does not give the precise location of a Covid-19 case for medical privacy reasons.
Instead, it tells users whether cases of Covid-19 have been reported within one kilometre of a location the user has keyed in.
Checks by Malaysiakini found that a search on "Empire Shopping Gallery" and "Subang Parade" - which are close to one another - returned the result: “There have been reports of Covid-19 case(s) within a 1km radius from your searched location in the last 14 – 28 days.”
A search on Mydin USJ returned a similar statement saying that Covid-19 had been detected in the vicinity within the past 14 days. The app does not state how many cases had been detected.
A chart issued by the Selangor Health Department today, meanwhile, states that there are currently no active Covid-19 cases in the Petaling district where all three shopping centres are located, making it a “green zone”.
Earlier today, the health news portal CodeBlue reported that the MySejahtera app’s hotspot feature was being abused by netizens to stigmatise hawkers in Penang rather than for its intended purpose of empowering the community by providing information.
It said several untrue messages had been circulated claiming that Covid-19 had been detected in one eatery or another in the state, causing each of their businesses to plummet.
“The rumours became viral when Penang residents used the MySejahtera hotspot tracker that revealed the presence of Covid-19 case(s) in the surrounding areas of Genting Cafe and Mandarin Cafe,” the report said. - Mkini
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