Fighting Covid misinformation is China's new worry amid stockpiling and panic-buying of drugs

China has been gradually easing certain coronavirus measures but the nation still continues its fight against the pandemic of misinformation related to COVID-19.

Despite the sudden spike in positive Covid cases in the past couple of weeks, Beijing loosened some of the restrictions that were part of the "zero-Covid" policy.

The stringent Covid curbs caused a massive impact on the economy, and frustrated people also protested against the regime, demanding the removal of measures.

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As the authorities in China tackle panic-buying of drugs, they have warned the citizen to be careful when it comes to self-treatment, which increased during the rise in Covid infections.

China's People’s Daily admonished the practice of mixing or taking more drugs to nursing a fever. Meanwhile, Beijing Evening News warned against overdosing on medicines, and stated that such practice could lead to serious health issues such as liver failure.

Several false beliefs were also circulating among people, for example, canned yellow peaches could help with recovery, and eating oranges could lead to a positive antigen test, etc. The state-controlled media warned against such viral practices.

WATCH |China retires Covid tracking app as part of easing virus rules

People's Daily wrote Monday in a post on the social media platform Weibo: "Prevent the pandemic with science, do not be misled by these rumors."

Health facilities and drugstores have reported that stocks of antipyretics, ibuprofen, and paracetamol are among the popular drugs that the running short. Authorities are also have urged residents to refrain from panic-buying.

The report of stockpiling comes amid people seen queued outside fever clinics at Chinese hospitals for COVID-19 checks on Monday. It is a new sign of the rapid spread of symptoms after authorities began dismantling an apparatus they used to surveil residents.

News agency Reuters reported that in the capital Beijing, about 80 people huddled in the cold outside a fever clinic in the upmarket district of Chaoyang as ambulances zipped past.

Aldo, China has deactivated a state-mandated mobile app, which was used to track the travel histories of a population of 1.4 billion people. The authorities also dropped the mandatory testing prior to many public activities.

(With inputs from agencies)

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