The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has rubbished a message urging people to mask up at schools and public hospitals reportedly due to a spike in Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) cases.
The message, which has been widely shared on social media, urges people to wear masks.
"The communication is issued collaboratively by the Department of Health and Education, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and World Health Organization," the fake message stated.
"It has come to our attention that a message regarding the outbreak RSV and associated guidelines is circulating. We would like to clarify that this message is fake news, and the NICD did not issue such a statement," the institute said.
"Please be advised that there is currently no outbreak of RSV, and no mandatory wearing of N95 masks in schools and public hospitals has been implemented. We urge everyone to rely on official sources for accurate information regarding public health matters," the NICD added.
In March, the NICD issued a RSV season update, indicating that with the exception of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 that disrupted RSV circulation, the detection rate of RSV for 2024 has risen at a similar rate to the mean circulation of RSV between 2016-2019 and 2022-2023 at the start of the RSV season.
According to the NICD, RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) among young children and may cause severe illness in young infants.
“It is highly contagious with transmission mainly by respiratory droplets and re-infections can occur. The RSV season usually precedes the influenza season with the average onset at the end of February over the past 10 years, excluding 2020 and 2021,” the NICD said.
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