It was reported that the Ministry of Health (MOH) informed the public yesterday (14 Aug) through its Facebook page that a claim made by a Facebook user who said that a 3-year-old preschooler had died from COVID-19 at the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) was false.
The FB user’s post which had garnered 200 over shares before it was removed from public view had also claimed that this death was not reported in the news and that the Singapore government “has always not been transparent” to Singaporeans.
The FB user also suggested to parents to keep their children at home if they do not feel safe in letting their children go to school.
MOH refuted the posting made by this FB user, saying that it is “completely untrue and a total fabrication”. It added that there has been no child who had died from COVID-19 at KKH thus far and urged the public to refrain from spreading rumors and misinformation.
One of the people who gave a benefit of a doubt to claims, was none other Goh Meng Seng, the Secretary-General of People’s Power Party (PPP), a party he set up just before the 2015 General Election.
When the fabricated posting first appeared on Facebook, Goh enthusiastically endorsed it without ascertaining the validity of the post.
“It is of Grave Public Interest to get this matter straighten out once and for all,” Goh wrote. “It is no longer about this 3 year old girl but there will be vast implications on the safety of many other toddlers and little children if this Covid variant could endanger their lives.”
He went further to ask the FB user to do a FB Live to tell everyone about her claims.
When another user told Goh that the news is fake, he stood his ground saying he would give the FB user the “benefits of doubts”.
“She has thrown a challenge to MOH, let’s see whether it bites,” he confidently replied.
Indeed, the posting has been fabricated, as the picture of the child used in the posting was not a 3-year-old but a Primary 2 school girl who passed away at KKH from a viral infection.
After MOH came out saying that the posting has been fabricated, Goh appears to have quietly removed his own postings.
In 2015, Goh’s party contested in Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency (GRC). His team lost to the People’s Action Party (PAP) team, garnering only 23.1% of the valid votes.
In 2020, he contested against PAP’s Tin Pei Ling in MacPherson Single Member Constituency (SMC). He lost again garnering only 28.3%.