Listen to this article

On Sunday, news started to spread that there would be a national quarantine, something that government agencies took coordinated action to dispel. A report says 3 U.S officials have claimed a foreign disinformation campaign is being undertaken to spread fear. The officials believe a deliberate effort is underway by a foreign entity to create fear in citizens of United States following coronavirus outbreak. They spoke to a reliable news outlet (but didn’t mention foreign entity name) and said a foreign entity they thought was behind the misinformation.

Pentagon alleged the Chinese government of spreading false & absurd conspiracy theories about the origin of COVID-19 accusing U.S service members. The National Security Council also tweeted on Sunday in an attempt to dispel the rumors of a national lockdown. Tweet said, “Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19”.

Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus

— NSC 45 Archived (@WHNSC45) March 16, 2020

President Donald Trump said during a press call on Monday that there might be a foreign entity playing games. It isn’t the first time the US government has claimed foreign interference. It is noteworthy that the officials have previously warned of Russian social media activity and there were widespread reports of interference in the 2016 presidential election. The United States has now more than 3,500 cases of coronavirus and 71 deaths have been recorded on Monday. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has recommended a 2-week ban on gatherings of more than 50 people.