City spared of the worst of web virus

Hongkongers have been urged to remain alert for signs of a computer virus that blocks web access, although local authorities had only one report of an infection yesterday.

Workers at the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre were breathing a little more easily after a noon deadline - when a temporary fix that the US FBI devised for the DNS Changer malware was due to expire - passed with minimal complaints.

Experts had earlier estimated that 300,000 computers worldwide, including 700 in Hong Kong, had been infected with the malware, which bars users from logging onto the web.

'It is too early to say the crisis is over,' centre manger Roy Ko Wai-tak said. 'We may have to wait for a few more days to see the extent of the problem in Hong Kong, when more people find their computers have lost their internet connection.'

The DNS Changer virus was not difficult to avoid, Ko said, but added that users without updated anti-virus software were more vulnerable.