MoH urges media: Present data responsibly

Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds is calling on the media to present mortality and other data responsibly.

He said data presented in a recent newspaper article was presented without context or analysis, and this was a dangerous way for data to be used.

He said processing mortality data is a specialised field which requires training and technical programmes. The media and the public, she said, should allow the people trained in this field to properly analyse the data before putting it into the public domain.

At Monday’s Health Ministry media briefing, Hinds said the number of patients presenting with respiratory illnesses was approximately the same as in previous years. If the virus had been released into the population, there would be a different epidemiological picture.