Health director slams rumors of outbreak

Wednesday, March 06, 2013
There is no novel coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong and rumors to the contrary are dangerous, the director of health said.
Constance Chan Hon-yee said such reports will result in the public lowering its guard.
They also may have an effect similar to that in the tale of the "boy who cried wolf" with nobody taking an actual threat seriously.
"Regarding recent rumors about the city being under threat of an outbreak of novel coronavirus, I would like to advise the public not to believe these rumors and not to spread these messages through the social media," Chan said yesterday.
She was attending an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the SARS outbreak.
Chan said the government will alert the public immediately if a suspected case is found.
The rumor, which began circulating during the middle of last month, novel
coronavirus had been found but the government was reluctant to announce it.quoted voluntary workers at public hospitals as saying that a variant of the It also quoted a reporter who claimed University of Hong Kong microbiology professor Ho Pak-leung had suggested in an interview that the coronavirus was already putting pressure on frontline medics.
Ho has since clarified through a radio program that he has neither given such an interview nor made such remarks in private or in public.