KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): The police have opened an investigation paper into the case of an individual suspected of spreading fake news that the death of national archer Haziq Kamaruddin was linked to the Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
Kajang district police chief ACP Mohd Zaid Hassan said an investigation is being conducted after the police received a report from a female student on Saturday who had viewed a video shared via WhatsApp and Instagram applications on the matter.
He said the three-minute, 34-second video featured a woman alleging that Haziq’s death was due to clogged blood vessels after receiving the Astrazeneca vaccine, and blamed the Ministry of Health (MoH) for hiding the real cause of death as well as for reporting inaccurate numbers in relation to Covid-19 positive cases.
“The police are tracking down the individual in the video recording, and the case is being investigated under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
“The public are advised not to spread unverified information as this can cause alarm or concern within the community,” he said in a statement today.
On May 15, MoH forensic medical services head Datuk Dr Zahari Noor said Haziq died of complications arising from clogged heart blood vessels due to coronary artery atherosclerosis, adding that there was no evidence to show that the 27-year-old Olympian’s death was linked to Covid-19 vaccination.
Haziq, who represented the country at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, was reported to have collapsed at his home at about 8am on May 14.
He was rushed to the Kajang Hospital before pronounced dead at 9.37am.
Haziq was among the over 200 athletes and officials making preparations for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, who took the second dose of their Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on May 4.
