Man in NE China detained for spreading H7N9 rumor

A man from northeast China's Liaoning Province was detained by police after he allegedly spread rumors about H7N9 bird flu on the Internet, local authorities said on Tuesday.

The man, surnamed Li, from Shenyang City allegedly posted rumors via Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblog service, saying that a man was reported as the first human H7N9 case in Liaoning Province after eating a popular chicken feet snack carrying the H7N9 bird flu virus. The post was spread widely among netizens and aroused panic among the public.

The post was proved to be rumor by local police and the man was detained on Monday.

Liaoning Province has not reported any human H7N9 cases so far this year.

A man from north China's Shanxi Province was detained for spreading H7N9 rumors on Sunday.