<p> All countries must develop plans to battle sometimes deadly misinformation around the coronavirus and potential vaccines, the United Nations said on Wednesday.</p>.<p>"Covid-19 is not just a public health emergency, it is a communications emergency too," UN chief Antonio Guterres told a virtual event held in connection with the UN General Assembly, as the organisation and several of its agencies launched an appeal to battle misinformation.</p>.<p>They also called on the media and social media platforms to do more to counter the spread of disinformation and to help spread accurate information.</p>.<p>Experts have been warning for months of a deluge of information including widespread false claims that can pose a serious threat to public health.</p>.<p>"Just as Covid-19 has spread around the world, so too have rumours, untruths and disinformation," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the event.</p>.<p>"Far too many people have done themselves harm based on falsehoods, self-medicating with toxic chemicals or dangerous medications. Others have not taken the precautions they should have."</p>.<p>He said these rumours and falsehoods affected trust in institutions and health systems, saying: "Everything that undermines that puts lives at risk."</p>.<p>Experts at the event stressed the need to dramatically rethink how to communicate science-based findings to promote accurate data over misinformation.</p>.<p>Humans have always peddled in rumours, said Claire Wardle of First Draft, a group focused on responsible reporting, but those rumours have been "super-charged" because of the internet.</p>.<p>She said all actors who give out information to the public needed to do more than just provide facts and figures.</p>.<p>She suggested even adopting some of the strategies of the so-called anti-vax movement, which has increasingly been stoking fears about the coronavirus vaccines in development.</p>.<p>"Humans work in an emotional space," Wardle said, adding: "We have to think very strategically about how we can create content that will be sharable by people online."</p>
<p> All countries must develop plans to battle sometimes deadly misinformation around the coronavirus and potential vaccines, the United Nations said on Wednesday.</p>.<p>"Covid-19 is not just a public health emergency, it is a communications emergency too," UN chief Antonio Guterres told a virtual event held in connection with the UN General Assembly, as the organisation and several of its agencies launched an appeal to battle misinformation.</p>.<p>They also called on the media and social media platforms to do more to counter the spread of disinformation and to help spread accurate information.</p>.<p>Experts have been warning for months of a deluge of information including widespread false claims that can pose a serious threat to public health.</p>.<p>"Just as Covid-19 has spread around the world, so too have rumours, untruths and disinformation," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the event.</p>.<p>"Far too many people have done themselves harm based on falsehoods, self-medicating with toxic chemicals or dangerous medications. Others have not taken the precautions they should have."</p>.<p>He said these rumours and falsehoods affected trust in institutions and health systems, saying: "Everything that undermines that puts lives at risk."</p>.<p>Experts at the event stressed the need to dramatically rethink how to communicate science-based findings to promote accurate data over misinformation.</p>.<p>Humans have always peddled in rumours, said Claire Wardle of First Draft, a group focused on responsible reporting, but those rumours have been "super-charged" because of the internet.</p>.<p>She said all actors who give out information to the public needed to do more than just provide facts and figures.</p>.<p>She suggested even adopting some of the strategies of the so-called anti-vax movement, which has increasingly been stoking fears about the coronavirus vaccines in development.</p>.<p>"Humans work in an emotional space," Wardle said, adding: "We have to think very strategically about how we can create content that will be sharable by people online."</p>