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The World Health Organisation (WHO) is working with Google to ensure that people get facts from the UN health agency first when they search for information about the new coronavirus that recently emerged in China.

Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the WHO’s executive board meeting that social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tencent and TikTok have also taken steps to limit the spread of misinformation and rumours about the virus.

The outbreak first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December and has now spread to 23 other countries.

“To that end, we have worked with Google to make sure people searching for information about coronavirus see WHO information at the top of their search results,” he said.