26/03/2020 (Agence Europe) – The East StratCom Task Force, the European working party on strategic communication devoted to Russia, is continuing its research on disinformation in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12451/19). In a new article posted on Thursday 26 March on its 'EUvsDisinfo' website, the working group states that “Almost half of this week’s disinformation cases are devoted, in one way or another, to the COVID-19 outbreak”. Since January, there have been a total of 152 occurrences of disinformation about the virus noted. This “clear desire to discredit the EU” worries European leaders, said High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, at a press conference on Monday 23 March. “Spreading disinformation is playing with people's lives”, he said. (AC)