The pair -- pictured centre in pink and green -- were taken into custody after separately posting virus rumours on their social media AFP/STR

BALIKPAPAN, Indonesia: Two Indonesian women who allegedly posted misinformation online about the deadly coronavirus have been arrested, police said, as they warned dozens of hoaxes were being rapidly shared by the country's millions of internet users.

The pair were taken into custody in Balikpapan, a city on Borneo island, in the past few days after separately posting rumours on their social media accounts that a local resident was infected and undergoing treatment.