Government decree on coronavirus information dissemination during a state of emergency withdrawn

Photo: Tanjug/Vlada Republike Srbije/Slobodan Miljevic, Printscreen: pravno-informacioni-sistem.rs

The Government of Serbia decided in a Conclusion adopted on March 28 that announcements about health measures taken and other information related to the treatment of COVID-19 given by unauthorized persons cannot be considered accurate and verified and warned that people can be held responsible for such behavior, i.e., for spreading misinformation during a state of emergency. However, this regulation will be withdrawn today, Ana Brnabic has announced.

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"Information about coronavirus can be given by anyone authorized by the Crisis HQ to provide complete, accurate and verified information, because in a state of emergency when we realistically are in a real state of war, it's important that I, as a responsible person, as the prime minister, try to protect families as well - because we have had cases so far where neither the Crisis HQ had been informed, nor the laboratory or healthcare workers, where there was information that someone had died of COVID-19," said Ana Brnabic.

In the past period there have been situations where this was talked about by people who have nothing to do with medicine, she explained.

"First, today we will withdraw that decree of the Government of the Republic of Serbia at the express request of the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, because Serbia has done everything to ensure that citizens are accurately informed, for citizen to be getting all information in a timely manner," said Brnabic.

She said the government's decision would be withdrawn even though she believes it protects citizens from false information.

"I am afraid that we will spend a lot more time fighting fake news, which appear on a daily basis, you saw it with the announcement that a 24-hour ban on movement was being introduced... The decision starts with stating that it was imperative that in conditions of a state of emergency citizens should be receiving only verified and accurate information regarding the condition and consequences of the infectious disease. The Crisis HQ ensures that the necessary checks are carried out and appropriate measures are taken to provide the public with timely and accurate information,"  concluded Ana Brnabic, and reiterated:

"At the express request of the president of Serbia, we will withdraw the decision today, and from now on we will be struggling a little more with fake news."

"Lest we cast any shadow on what we are doing to protect healthcare professionals, I will urge that we don't detain even the people telling lies to use them for political attacks. Let everyone do their job, the Government will do more to disprove all the lies and fake news. Journalists, please - do not spread lies that will serve to diminish the reputation of our healthcare institutions, to attack clinical centers, health professionals," said the prime minister of Serbia.

"We are in a state of war"

When asked about various comparisons of Serbia with other countries, claiming that the situation in Serbia is more dramatic than what our data says, she replied:

"Italy has 13,155 dead, this number, unfortunately, is constantly growing, we feel great sympathy for our friends in Italy. We are watching that to see how to prevent it in our country... There, the death rate is 12 percent, in Spain it is 9 percent, in Switzerland 2.69, in Serbia it's 2.64 at the moment. We are better than Hungary, although Hungary is putting up an incredible fight, they have a 3.8 percent mortality rate... There is no trace of truth in what people talk about, I don't know what their statistics are..."

Serbia is not the worst and we are fighting not to become that

"We are not fighting to have the lowest numbers and we're not comparing ourselves with other countries, we are fighting for every human life. That fight is non-stop, I'm sorry we have to defend our healthcare from such nonsense and lies that are easily verifiable," she pointed out.

(Telegraf.rs)