KUALA LUMPUR – Police are investigating health news site CodeBlue over an article on recent Covid-19 cases at the Setia City Convention Centre (SCCC) mass vaccination site (PPV).
The news site said its editor-in-chief Boo Su-Lyn was called in to give a statement at the Shah Alam police headquarters this afternoon.
The investigation was related to an article titled “Volunteers Claim Selangor PPV Hid Covid-19 Cases, No Mass Testing Or SOP”, which was published on July 18, it said in a statement.
“It is understood that the police complaint against Ms Boo was filed by the SCCC PPV management,” the statement read.
“Ms Boo cooperated with the police but turned down a request to name the sources of her report.”
CodeBlue said the police probe was believed to be conducted under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, as well as Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
Section 505 of the Penal Code deals with statements said to cause alarm to the public, whereas Section 233 of the communications act pertains to the “improper use of network facilities or network service”.
Following the report, the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) issued a press statement on July 19 confirming that seven Covid-19 cases among the PPV staff were detected on July 11.
“CodeBlue condemns the government’s harassment and intimidation of our editor-in-chief, who was merely reporting workplace safety concerns by PPV volunteers who had sacrificed their time and put themselves at risk to serve the country in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme,” it said.
“The government should not be targeting whistleblowers who provided accurate information as confirmed by the CITF.”
CodeBlue said the government should instead learn from the lesson and improve its implementation of the necessary safety measures. – The Vibes, July 26, 2021