How to identify misinformation related to coronavirus?

We live in the era of information overload and misinformation. Ever since coronavirus started being a cause for panic among the public, a lot of misinformation regarding it started circulating in the internet. How to identify if a given information is true or not?

1. Check the source of the information. If the information you found comes from a website, check the URL to find out if it is a reliable organization. Some of the sources that you can rely on are the governments of your countries, World Health Organization and established newspapers. Even Wikipedia has reliable information related to coronavirus pandemic. This is made possible by thousands of volunteers, including experts, monitoring  pages related to coronavirus and updating the pages for accurate information. There is a Wikipedia page for Misinformation related to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. Several instances of misinformation have been recorded here.
   If the information you got is via a social media platform such as Whatsapp, you should be careful about its authenticity. Always ask the sender for the origin of the message if you are unsure if it is true. Encourage everyone to share trusted information only.
2. Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence : If you find a post that says that the the cure for coronavirus disease is found, or makes similar tall claims, it is likely that they are wrong. If a vaccine or medicine for coronavirus gets indeed made, it will be all over the place, not just in that single forwarded message.
3. If you find something like “The truth behind coronavirus pandemic” or such that has the word ‘truth’ in it, it is likely that they are sharing an unpopular opinion, and therefore, it is likely to be false. Those saying the truth don’t need to affirm that they are indeed saying the truth, but liars need to do it from time to time to make sure their lies are spreading.
4. If the coronavirus-related post deals with supporting an ideology or a religion, it may be false. In the zeal of projecting one’s ideology or religion first, people tend to create and spread all kinds of news, including fake ones. Neither capitalism or communism has figured out how to control coronavirus spread. Neither Hinduism nor Islam has solutions for preventing disease transmission.
5. Take extra care when you SHARE information. Only share the posts that you know are true. Don’t be a part of the fake news chain.

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