Cops looking into list being circulated

A police investigation has been launched into the circumstances that led to a list of names, including persons who tested positive for COVID-19, being circulated on social media.

The document entitled Outstanding Notifications contains personal information such as the names, addresses and COVID-19 statuses of close to 150 people.

It has been making the rounds on social media sites WhatsApp and Instagram.

While Minister of Health and Wellness, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic said he did not know if the list was authentic or fictitious, he pointed out that it had caused distress to some persons whose names were on the list but who had never tested positive for COVID-19.

He said this included a Barbadian living in Bermuda who had not visited the island since 2019 and the mother of a five-month-old baby whose name also appears on the list.

Bostic said the document did not bear an official mark of the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

“…I can tell you that the matter is being investigated by the Royal Barbados Police Force but I cannot say anything because I do not know.

“There are so many things that appear in social media that I cannot tell you where they come from, I cannot tell you what are the intentions of those who produce them…I don’t know where the list originated but I can say to you that we try our best to maintain confidentiality to the extent that even when we are pressured by the press to give locations of positive cases we don’t even do that so you know the extent to where we go in order to try to protect the confidentiality of people’s information and documents,” Bostic said.

“So at this point in time I cannot say anything on that matter because the veracity of it is unknown and like a lot of the other things including the situation with our esteemed Governor General, I do not know where those types of things come from so I cannot really comment any further on it.”

When contacted, police public relations officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss told Barbados TODAY he was unaware of the development and therefore could not comment. (RB)