The Director of the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, Professor Paul Yip, says strong community support can help people with depression and suicidal thoughts.

He was speaking about the death this week of singer Coco Lee, 20 years after Cantopop icon Leslie Cheung took his life.

Yip told RTHK on Friday that the media should be more responsible when publishing news about celebrity suicides.

"Based on our experience in 2003 about the death of Leslie, unfortunately within 24 hours six people attempted to take their lives using similar methods," Yip said.

"So I think the death of Coco is very unfortunate and the public outpouring of feelings is overwhelming. But I do appeal to the public, that if you are being disturbed by the news, go and seek help, go to talk to someone."

Yip said multiple surveys have suggested that the mental health of Hongkongers in general is "not very good", with around 14 percent of people suffering from depression.

He added that news organisations need to ensure they adopt a sensitive approach when reporting on suicides, to ensure they don't spark a copycat effect.