Photo taken on Feb. 27, 2020 shows boxes of masks donated to Daegu by the Chinese Embassy, in Seoul, South Korea. (Chinese Embassy in South Korea/Handout via Xinhua)

Authorities in Wuhan, Hubei Province, denied that they would send a local doctor to South Korea to aid COVID-19 fight, despite a widely circulated self-media account making such a claim.

Despite such rumors, China on Monday announced it would allow export of medical face masks to South Korea, following previously announced aid of medical supplies, despite the acute need of the masks domestically.

Wuhan based media blogger Wu Pengfei started the rumor in his WeChat blog on March 7 saying that doctor Li Yuehua and his wife were preparing a special working group heading to South Korea to help fight the epidemic upon a Chinese authority’s request. Wu did not name or specify the “authority.” The article has been removed.

Despite no official notification on the incident, multiple authorities in Wuhan confirmed to the media that they were not aware of Li’s departure. 

A staff member of the public security bureau of Wuhan's Hanyang district said the bureau had already stopped handling entry and exit procedures because of the outbreak, and Wuhan has been strictly preventing the outflow of population, according to cqcb.com, a media outlet affiliated to Chongqing Morning News.

Currently, it is virtually impossible to go to South Korea from Hubei except for official affairs with credible certificates issued by government departments as the South Korean consulate general in Wuhan has suspended processing of business visas, cqcb.com quoted an official at the consulate as saying. The staff confirmed that the consulate was not informed of an invitation to Li to South Korea.

It was unclear why the self-media blogger made up the news of Li’s travel.

On Monday, the Chinese Embassy in South Korea announced the Chinese government will allow masks to be exported to South Korea from March 10, with a first batch of 5 million, including ordinary surgical masks and N95 ones, to alleviate the shortage of masks. 

Previously on March 6, Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming said that the Chinese government had decided to provide 100,000 N95 masks, 1 million surgical masks, 10,000 sets of protective suits, and 50,000 test kits to South Korea to support the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. But Chinese authorities have not yet reported to send any medical support team.