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Last Words
Hong Kong texts six million over mystery disease hoax
By Ananova
03/04/2003
Hong Kong authorities have text messaged six million mobile phones in a bid to dispel a hoax online newspaper story about the fatal mystery disease hitting the region.
The hoax story was allegedly posted by a 14-year-old boy who copied the website design of the popular Chinese-language Ming Pao newspaper.
The story stated the former British colony has been declared an "infected city."
The hoaxer, who has not been named, has been arrested and has been quoted as saying he did it for fun, and didn't think anybody would believe the story.
The online rumour fuelled Hong Kong residents' fears of SARS, which already have hundreds of thousands of people wearing surgical masks.
The government's text response said: "Director of Health announced at 3pm today there is no plan to declare Hong Kong as an infected area."
"At first I wondered why they sent me such a weird message," said Ada Ko, a 47-year-old office assistant. "It's useful, but it came in a bit too late to calm the public."
"It's a bit odd," said 20-year-old student Forrest Kan, who had been unaware of the "infected city" rumour until he got the message.
"We wanted to get our message out as quickly as possible to allay fears," Terence Yu, a spokesman for the Commerce, Information and Technology Bureau, said.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, has killed at least 78 people and sickened more than 2,200 worldwide.
Hong Kong has had 16 deaths. More than 700 people have fallen ill and hundreds placed under quarantine. The city has a population of 6.8 million.
Read the full article at Ananova
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