A doctor in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, has been detained for intentionally leaking the epidemiological investigation report of an imported COVID-19 reinfection patient online, including the person's ID information and contact number. Two others were also detained for spreading rumors about the case, local authorities said Thursday.Data privacy Illustration: VCG

A doctor in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, has been detained for intentionally leaking the epidemiological investigation report of an imported COVID-19 reinfection patient online, including the person's ID information and contact number. Two others were also detained for spreading rumors about the case, local authorities said Thursday.

Hangzhou reported a reinfected asymptomatic case on Wednesday - an expat teacher previously confirmed as a silent carrier in April in the UK. He entered China through Guangzhou in December and underwent 14-day quarantine upon arrival, after which he entered Hangzhou on Saturday.

The patient's personal information, including his ID number and contact info was found circulating on the internet on Wednesday, along with two notices that appeared to be rumors about the case.

Police immediately launched an investigation, and found that a doctor, surnamed Lin, who worked at the infection control department of a local hospital, had initially leaked the patient's epidemiological investigation report to a WeChat group, which was then posted online. 

Lin will be detained for five days for intruding on other's privacy. Two others will also be detained for seven days for spreading rumors. 

Hangzhou health authorities announced on Thursday morning that a total of 136 close contacts of the reinfected patient have been tracked down and given nucleic acid tests, all returning negative results. Testing of 309 environmental samples also showed negative results, and the areas have been thoroughly disinfected. 

A number of similar cases have been reported since the epidemic. In December, the personal info and travel records of a confirmed patient in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, was posted on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. In April, a list of 6,685 patients' personal information including names, addresses, contact numbers, and IDs, was leaked from Jiaozhou Central Hospital in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, drawing a backlash from the public. 

Global Times