Hong Kong singer Linda Wong has clarified that her father, actor Jimmy Wang Yu, is still alive, after news of his supposed death went viral on the Chinese social media.

The boo-boo began after veteran actress Helen Ma wrote on Weibo last Saturday (Oct 10) that Wang has died and paid tribute to the 77-year-old actor.

The media sought confirmation with Wong after the news went viral, but she said that her father is alive.

Wong, 52, set the record straight on Weibo: "My father is fine. Thanks all for the concern."

Ma later explained that she was misled by someone from a message group before she eventually deleted her initial post.

Wang has not been seen in public in recent years after suffering a second stroke in 2016. He is in stable condition and being treated in a hospital, said his younger daughter Carol Wong.

The veteran actor, best known for playing the one-armed swordsman in the 1967 movie of the same name, did not attend the Golden Horse Awards in Taipei last year to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award. Daughters Linda and Carol received it on his behalf.

The actor has won Golden Horse acting nominations for his roles in Brotherly Love (1978), Wu Xia (2011) and Soul (2013) and also took home a Best Actor prize for Soul at the Taipei Film Awards.

He has a third daughter from his marriage to late actress Jeanette Lin Tsui, which ended in divorce in 1975. He married former flight attendant Wang Kai-chen in 1978 before they divorced after he caught her and her lover with their pants down in 1999.