Three Tibetans have been detained by authorities for spreading “rumours” about the coronavirus, Tibet Watch has said.

Those arrested are from Mangra County, eastern Tibet, a region governed as the Tibet Autonomous prefecture in Qinghai Province. They have been detained for between five to ten days and fined 500 yuan, Tibet Watch said.

The Tibetans have been forced to do Chinese legal education training and authorities closed the online WeChat groups they were using on 20 February 2020, .

On 12 March Tibet Watch reported the arrest of ten other Tibetans in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region. They were also accused of spreading “rumours”  related to the coronavirus.

Human rights group Amnesty International has expressed concern about Beijing’s attempts to limit information and discussion during the outbreak.

“If governments in South-East Asia and elsewhere should take one lesson from China’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, it’s that limiting information and shutting down debate in the name of ‘stability’ carries grave risks and can be disastrously counter-productive,” Amnesty International said.