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which not much is known, public health is facing a crisis on various levels, including COVID-19 related-
health messaging. With the governments insufficient, inconsistent and largely non-evidence-based
response, and the far reach of social media “armchair experts”, enormous uncertainty, fear, and fury has

emerged with respect to the origins, treatments and prevention measures concerning COVID-19. Majority
of the evidence required to completely notify clinical and public health responses is unavailable as of

yet, leading to COVID-19 being uniquely vulnerable to a rapid and excessive growth of misinformation,
disinformation, and medical distrust, inclusive of what are often called “conspiracy beliefs”.

Disinformation thrives in a crisis. Malicious actors capitalize on confusion, fear, and sorrow for profit
and political gain, intentionally spreading falsehoods and conspiracy and stoking engagement among
social media users. Information literacy would help in tackling such problems. Information literate and
aware people would be able to distinguish between false and correct information and act responsibly by
not spreading the fake news any further. Freely available and easily accessible statistics or information
by trustworthy and authorized sources will help people in being information literate and therefore
knowing where to find the correct information. Special bibliographies on COVID-19 are made available.
Planning virtual information services, curating the information sources, providing comprehensive
searching for evidence-based information, maintaining electronic services and maintaining referral
services are some of the initiatives by librarians. Researchers are highly dependent on libraries for reliable
information. The latest data about the ongoing research is made available to researchers through peer-
reviewed academic journals, books and reports facilitated by libraries.

The governments, agencies and institutions like the UN and WHO should try to provide as much
information to the people as possible. UN and WHO are two extremely trusted organizations all over the
World. W.H.O has promptly notified the World about the Corona Virus disease and its spread. WHO has
confirmed that Corona Virus Human to Human transmission of the disease and alerted people to
symptoms and impacts on human respiratory system. WHO has had also to deliberately deal through
outbreak political conflict between United States and China.

Conclusion
Governments and Institutions can play a massive role here in controlling misinformation. Respective
Governments of countries and organizations like WHO have tried their level best to stop the spread of
misinformation but much bigger efforts are needed, keeping in mind how big the problem is, especially
from the governments. Governments should try and provide easily accessible information and solutions
to the common problems faced during the pandemic. The governments should present the actual stats
instead of edited ones as done by some governments so that people know how the current situation
actually is. Governments and organizations should stand up and provide hope and guide the population
which would in turn prevent them from panicking and trusting untrustworthy sources which leads to
misinformation. Regular interactions with the people will also help in understanding their problems and
making decisions during the lockdown accordingly. The above mentioned points apply not only for
situations during the pandemic but also life after that which will stop the spread of misinformation.

Dr. Rajesh Kumar
Senior Librarian

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_literacy
https://www.skylinecollege.edu
https://otterbein.libguides.com/infolit/whyinfolit
https://www.hec.edu/en/knowledge/instants/what-role-social-media-during-covid-19-crisis-
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7241063
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization%27s_response_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic

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