Grozny woman publicly apologizes for her panic message about coronavirus

On March 19, Zalina Djabaeva, a resident of Grozny, voiced a public apology on the air of the "Grozny" ChGTRK (State TV and Radio Company). The woman said her report about a hospital in the village of Sernovodskoye closed because of a case of the coronavirus infection was caused by her concern over her relatives' health.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that a message about a lot of coronavirus patients was spread on the WhatsApp and Instagram, the author of which later publicly apologized for this fake piece of news.

On March 19, the "Grozny" ChGTRK showed a story with public repentance of Zalina Djabaeva, a former resident of the village of Sernovodskoye, who settled in Grozny. The TV story was preceded by an audio message recorded by Zalina Djabaeva. "People say the coronavirus infection came [to us]. They say that today, a woman was brought to our hospital in Sernovodskoye and diagnosed with coronavirus ... People say that woman came from abroad, from Germany, and straight from the airport she came to attend a tezet (mourning ceremony). People say that the hospital in Sernovodskoye is closed," the woman said in her message as translated from the Chechen language by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On the air of the "Grozny" TV Channel, Zalina Djabaeva said that she had learned about a woman allegedly diagnosed with the coronavirus infection from a conversation of unknown women in public transport. After that she became worried and sent an audio message to her daughter, and then her message was made public. "When I arrived and looked around, I realized there was no coronavirus here (in the village of Sernovodskoye). The hospital operates as usual. The conversation I heard turned out to be fake news ... I regret sending my voice message and causing concern among people. Please forgive me. Do not tell people about what is not happening," Zalina Djabaeva repented as translated from the Chechen language by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 20, 2020 at 12:33 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.