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One of them told people they had been fined for breaking the rules.<\/p>\n
Mr Dowden added: “We need people to follow expert medical advice and stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.<\/p>\n
“It is vital that this message hits home and that misinformation and disinformation which undermines it is knocked down quickly.”<\/p>\n
The government is also re-launching a campaign called “Don’t Feed the Beast”, urging the public to think carefully about what they share online.<\/p>\n
It comes as the former chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee called for knowingly sharing misinformation about Covid-19 to be made an offence.<\/p>\n
Conservative MP Damian Collins said: “The information contagion around Covid-19 is so dangerous, because there is so much that people don’t know and so much happening all the time, that it is very easy for false rumours to take hold and spread.”<\/p>\n
Mr Collins is also launching an online service where members of the public can post screenshots of coronavirus-related information they have been sent.<\/p>\n
Social media companies have also announced measures to try to fight the spread of misinformation about the virus.<\/p>\n
Twitter has said it will remove content that promotes unverified claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last week, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Reddit also said they would work with governments on the issue and to help those in self-isolation.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"