Greece is to use loudspeakers at a migrants’ camp on the Macedonian border to dispel “irresponsible rumours” that the crossing is about to reopen.

“We are trying to step up efforts to address refugees and migrants in their own language and without an intermediary,” said Giorgos Kyritsis, spokesman for the government’s coordination panel on migration.

Additional interpreters would be sent to the camp and a loudspeaker system – currently operated by the UN refugee agency – would be employed to make official announcements, he said.

On Sunday, several hundred migrants, including people in wheelchairs or carrying babies, dashed for the border following rumours it would be opened. Greek police and other migrants helped calm the situation.

The commotion appeared to be triggered by a rumour that journalists and Red Cross officials would help migrants force their way across the fence, a young Syrian refugee told the Athens News Agency.

The rush came two weeks after hundreds marched from Idomeni toward the Macedonian border, crossing a surging river to do so, before they were stopped by Macedonian troops.

Kyritsis, interviewed on the News247 website, condemned “irresponsible rumours and disinformation” that “spread like wildfire … among people who are under pressure and living in very difficult conditions”.

More than 50,000 migrants are stranded in Greece after other European countries sealed off the Balkan route. Many are Syrians fleeing war. More than 11,000 of them are currently camped around Idomeni.

The Balkan route leads from Greece – the landing point for hundreds of thousands of people coming from Turkey – to northern Europe where many have relatives or seek a better future.

The influx has eased since an agreement between the European Union and Turkey came into effect on 20 March for returning any migrants who reach Greece.

A total of 1,331 have arrived since 21 March, according to official figures.