Vietnam celebrities fined up to $650 over coronavirus misinformation

The final amount for actress Ngo Thanh Van, singer Dam Vinh Hung and actress Cat Phuong will be decided next week, said vice head of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Information and Communications Tu Luong.

Ngo Thanh Van, Dam Vinh Hung, Cat Phuong (L to R) express regret over coronavirus fake news. Photo by VnExpress.

On January 31, Van stated via her two-million subscriber fan page flights operated between China's Wuhan to Vietnam on Thursday after the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam had suspended all flights to and from coronavirus-hit areas since January 29. The post was removed and Van said apology to her fans.

"I learned my lesson thanks to this incident," Singer Dam Vinh Hung wrote via Facebook, adding he would check news sources carefully before sharing information in future.

The singer admitted his mistake after stating two Chinese nationals infected and treated at Cho Ray Hospital had died.

A department representative, after rejecting to deal with his lawyer, required the singer to correct the information he shared and take responsibility for his administrative violation that badly effected society.

Actress Cat Phuong also apologized to her Facebook fans for stating the epidemic had spread to HCMC’s District 1 and would find its way to other districts.

Vietnam has so far reported 12 cases of nCoV infection, three of whom have been declared healthy and discharged from hospital.

As of Friday the epidemic had killed 638 people, mostly in mainland China, and infected nearly 31,500.