SINGAPORE - SPH Magazines has complied with an order by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) office to correct an online post in the HardwareZone Forum that falsely claimed that a man in Singapore has died from the Wuhan virus infection.

"A false statement was made in a HardwareZone forum post, claiming that a man has died from the Wuhan coronavirus infection in Singapore. HardwareZone is required to carry the Correction Notice to all end-users in Singapore who use HardwareZone.com," said the Pofma Office said in a statement early on Monday (Jan 27).

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong instructed the order to be issued, the Pofma Office added.

The forum post was made on Sunday at 5.50pm. It was removed before the Pofma order was received.

SPH Magazines, which operates HardwareZone Forum, complied with the correction notice on Monday which included a link to the government website which corrected the falsehoods in the original post.

"HardwareZone.com had, in fact, taken down the thread earlier, in line with its community guidelines. It has also promptly complied with the direction and published the correction notice," said an SPH Magazines spokesman. "Forum users have also been reminded to post responsibly."