Government: Launch of COVID-19 Official News online platform

The Government, through the Authority for the Digitization of Romania, and the non-governmental organization Code for Romania launched the online platform "COVID-19 Official News" (stirioficiale.ro) and is working on several other such projects regarding responsible social conduct in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus. According to a release of the Government relayed on Tuesday to AGERPRES, the "COVID-19 Official News", launched on Monday, centralizes information from safe sources, such as the official releases of the Strategic Communication Group established by the Government, the decisions of the National Committee for Special Emergency Situations and the recordings of the press conferences held by officials with responsibilities in the area. "Making the Authority for the Digitization of Romania operational and the digitization of the General Secretariat of the Government are priorities of my mandate because we desire, through the digitization of the public administration, to rebuild trust in the state institutions. In this period, in which the population is under duress, it is essential for people to be well informed, from official and verified sources. In this sense, the online platform 'COVID-19 Official News' was launched, the main objective of which is to combat disinformation and fake news," said the Secretary General of the Government, Antonel Tanase, quoted in the release. The "COVID-19 Official News" project was done on the basis of a collaboration protocol signed between the General Secretariat of the Government and Code for Romania. The quoted source mentions that, in order to support the recommendations made by the Ministry of Health regarding responsible social conduct in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and, in accordance with the indications of the National Committee for Special Emergency Situations, the Authority for the Digitization of Romania and the Code for Romania team are also working on the following platforms: "Up to date data" - anonymized data regarding the cases, "Stay at home" - centralization and monitoring of persons in self-isolation, "Diaspora Hub" - centralization and monitoring/communication support, "What will I do" - questionnaires to help the people understand the situation, and "RO Help" - coherent and safe collection of aids. "The top priority of the Authority for the Digitization of Romania these days is making available for citizens and public institutions any electronic solutions that can lead to the prevention of COVID-19 spread. We are speaking of information, communication or public service management platforms to help the citizens make correct decisions and limit their exposure. We thank the volunteers that are helping us in this demarche, as well as the institutions that understood that technology can be more useful than ever for Romanian citizens everywhere," said Sabin Sarmas, the President of the Authority for the Digitization of Romania, according to the release. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Adina Panaitescu)