A Queensland MP is livid about a fake health warning telling people to stay away from Brisbane suburbs with large Chinese populations due to the coronavirus threat.

Duncan Pegg has expressed disgust over what he describes as a "racist" hoax, drawn up to look like an official health department alert and warning against non-essential travel to four suburbs that are home to many Chinese families.

The post, circulated on Facebook and Chinese social media platform WeChat, warned Queensland had issued a "level 3 health warning for coronavirus" and people should not travel to Sunnybank, Sunnybank Hill (sic), Runcorn and Eight Mile Plains.

This media release is 100% FAKE!!! FAKE!!! FAKE!!! I don't normally like to give any credence to ppl who seek to malign our community but wanted to make things clear this time.



To get latest updates go to the Queensland Health website & FB page. Any questions call 13HEALTH. pic.twitter.com/mIW2XVKTH7 — Duncan Pegg MP (@DuncanPeggMP) January 27, 2020

It noted those areas had a "ratio of 1 to 3 non-Chinese Australians".

Mr Pegg, whose electorate takes in targeted suburbs including Sunnybank, says there is no heightened threat and he's upset but not surprised, with similar campaigns run in the past targeting his multicultural community.

"For someone to make light of this, and to put out this racist, fake media release effectively misinforms the community and causes a lot of fear and anxiety," he told ABC radio Tuesday.

Other comments being widely spread on social media have suggested coronavirus patients are from suburbs with greater levels of Asian immigration.

According to the most recent Census results, 23 per cent of people identified as being of Chinese ancestry in the state electoral division of Stretton, which includes the suburb of Sunnybank Hills.

And in the neighbouring division of Sunnybank – which encapsulates Sunnybank, Runcorn and Eight Mile Plains – more than 20 per cent of people indicated they were of Chinese ancestry.

1/2 @NSWHealth has been made aware of a social media post that is being widely circulated warning people to not consume certain foods or visit certain locations in Sydney.



This post has not originated from NSW Health or any related entity... pic.twitter.com/GcvM4aG4ga — NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 28, 2020

Meanwhile NSW Health has also issued a warning about a social media post making the rounds online “warning people to not consume certain foods or visit certain locations in Sydney”.

“This post has not originated from NSW Health or any related entity,” the department said on Tuesday afternoon.

“Further, there is no such entity as the ‘Department of Diseasology Parramatta’.

“NSW Health would like to assure the community that the locations mentioned in this post pose no risk to visitors, and there have been no ‘positive readings’ at train stations.”

View photos NSW Health was forced to issue a warning over this hoax post about the coronavirus. Source: Facebook More

Five coronavirus cases in Australia

Nationally, there are five confirmed cases of coronavirus – four in NSW and one in Victoria. A 21-year-old UNSW student became the fourth case in NSW and fifth in Australia after she tested positive on Monday.

The woman flew into Sydney Airport on Thursday on the last Australian-bound direct flight out of the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, before the airport was shut down.

The student and three men who previously tested positive are being treated at Sydney's Westmead Hospital.

The Melbourne patient, a man in his 50s, is being treated at the Monash Medical Centre.

There are no confirmed cases in Queensland, with four people returning negative tests.

Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young says efforts have been made to contact four other people in the state who were on the same flight as the Victorian patient who tested positive.

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