More than 10 people across the country have been detained for spreading online rumors about the H7N9 virus, media reported.

Police in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, put three people in custody after they spread rumors on their micro blogs on Monday saying that the H7N9 virus had been detected in the poultry market in Guiyang, the Guiyang Evening News reported.

Guiyang police detained the three people for up to 10 days for spreading the rumors and causing panic among local residents, according to the report.

Similar cases also occurred in Fuyang and Huangshan, Anhui province, Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, and Kunshan, Jiangsu province, where a number of people were detained by police for spreading online rumors, local media reported.

So far the deadly H7N9 virus was only detected in Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and in the Shanghai municipality.

(China Daily 04/11/2013 page5)