Coronavirus rumours spread on app cripple LA’s Koreatown

Part of a group representing Koreatown restaurants sit and listen to community leaders voice their concerns during a news conference at Hanshin Poca restaurant in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles on Feb 28, 2020. Fears of the coronavirus combined with the speed and reach of social media can quickly cripple the healthiest of businesses. That's what happened to several Korean restaurants in Los Angeles. Their business was hit hard by false rumours spread on social media that a Korean Air flight attendant with coronavirus dined there last week. — Photos: AP

LOS ANGELES: In a Koreatown restaurant known for its beef bone broth soup, the lunchtime crowd Friday was half its normal size. The reason was a virulent rumor about a customer with coronavirus.

Han Bat Shul Lung Tang was one of five restaurants that lost business after being named in posts on a Korean messaging app that warned a Korean Air flight attendant with the virus had dined there during a layover in Los Angeles more than a week ago.