Coronavirus email hoax led to violent protests in Ukraine

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Photo by MAKSYM MYKHAILYK/AFP via Getty Images

An email that appeared to come from Ukraine’s ministry of health containing false information about coronavirus cases in the country led to a number of violent protests and standoffs with police, reports BuzzFeed News.

The email originated from outside Ukraine, according to a government statement, and it falsely claimed there were five cases of coronavirus in the country. In reality, there have been zero reported cases of the virus in Ukraine. But the email was sent the same day evacuees from China landed in the country, and some Ukranian residents protested the evacuees’ arrival by blocking roads that led to medical facilities and, in some cases, by smashing the windows of the buses carrying those evacuees.

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via The Verge – All Posts

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