Chitral man booked for peddling coronavirus rumours

CHITRAL: Amidst a coronavirus outbreak in China that has ballooned into a global health emergency, a person in Chitral has been booked on charges of spreading rumours about the deadly disease on social media, ARY News reported.

According to details, local police registered a case against the man, identified as Irshad on a complaint of the Tehsil Drosh administration.

He allegedly posted a picture of a Chinese man on Facebook, describing him as a coronavirus patient.

The case has been registered under Section 16 (dissemination of rumours) of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and Section 25 (intentionally damaging or tampering with telegraphs) of the Telegraph Act.

Earlier today, Hong Kong reported its first coronavirus death, the second outside mainland China.

The fast-spreading outbreak has thus far killed 427 people and infected 20,438 as there have been nearly 200 cases elsewhere across 24 countries and China’s special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.