Worried Afghans switched off their mobile phones yesterday as rumors spread that a deadly virus could be contracted by answering calls from "strange numbers".

An official with Afghan Wireless Communication Company, Abdullah, said hundreds of calls were received from worried customers who had heard the rumor.

“There's a strange rumor that if you get a phone call from a strange number, if you hit 'OK' (to answer the phone), blood will come from your nose and ears, and you will die,” said Mar, a taxi driver...

“We have no reports of anyone answering their telephone and then bleeding from their noses,” said Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the Health Ministry.