ABU DHABI — Two people in the United Arab Emirates, including a television journalist, were handed a two-year jail term by a local court for broadcasting a fabricated story, the UAE’s state news agency reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the accused aired a fabricated story on a local TV Channel claiming the deaths of five members of a family due to coronavirus.

"This incident negatively affected society, afflicted members of the community, and left them in a state of confusion and fear of the outbreak," prosecutors said at the time.

"The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal sentenced two defendants to two years in prison after convicting them of broadcasting a fabricated story about the death of five members of the same family from coronavirus," the report added.

The UAE has so far recorded 139,891 coronavirus cases and 510 deaths. — Agencies