Press Releases

Transcript of Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food on avian influenza

Following is a transcript of the remarks made by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, at a stand-up media session at the Central Government Offices this evening (January 29):

Dr Yeoh: I just want to report to you that I have come back from Thailand and I have reported to the Chief Executive relating to the current situation in the neighbouring countries in terms of this outbreak of avian flu. Obviously this is a very serious affair because many countries have been affected over a very short period of time. And the extent of the outbreak in this region is quite large in birds and poultry. Mr Tung chaired a meeting of government officials comprising some of my colleagues and also some of the other secretaries to review the current situation and also to hear from me my reports of current measures, of what we are doing to control and prevent the introduction of this avian flu in Hong Kong. As you know, I've asked my colleagues in different government departments to review our policies, procedures and strategies currently in place to see whether there are any strengthening or any adjustments of these measures in the light of the threat around us and they will be reporting to me tomorrow in the meeting which I have pre-arranged. In terms of human health, the Department of Health has had a meeting today with the Guangdong and Macao colleagues and they have agreed to examine whether we should set up a joint clinical team so if there is any case of suspected avian flu in humans that we have these experts joining in examining these cases. And there is also agreement that if there are any suspected cases that we should send the specimens to the other two's laboratories so that we can all share the experience and confirm the cases. We also have an agreement with the Guangdong and Macao authorities that if there are any cases of suspected or confirmed avian flu in humans that the other two parties would be notified at the first possible time.

The Department of Health will also be gazetting in the Government Notice to include Influenza A (H5) in the list of infectious diseases, which will require doctors to notify the Department of Health if there is suspected or confirmed case of avian flu in humans. So, this is what we've been doing. Obviously the Government is very concerned relating to the current threat, potential threat, to us in Hong Kong because we are surrounded by many places where the avian flu has erupted. Although we have put in measures and so far we are spared from it, I can assure the public that we are not complacent, that we are examining all our procedures and all our policies in each area in the light of the changing environment. Of course, as more and more countries are reporting this avian flu, the threat is going to be different. Our measures have got to be adjusted accordingly.

Reporter: (other additional measures?)

Dr Yeoh: Obviously the Government is reviewing policies and procedures to see whether they are adequate and whether we need to step them up. We also need to appeal to the public as what I have said two days ago. All of these measures can only be effective if it is tripartite relationships and tripartite actions. The trade has got to cooperate. The government has got to have effective policies. And the public also has a role to play. Because when you are in contact with the wild birds and pet birds, although the pet birds are all certified to be healthy, we really need to be on our alert, especially there are wild birds around, then people should not be in contact. For the poultry trade, we also need their cooperation to take measures to protect themselves, to protect the public and to protect other individuals. I think a lot of these are good and simple personal hygienic practices, good environmental hygienic practices and good food hygiene practices. So a lot of those things were simple and of course in terms of our behaviour, I think we need to cooperate.

Reporter: (flu jab?)

Dr Yeoh: Anyone who feels that there is a risk obviously should have a flu jab. You are talking about in the prevention of avian flu. I was given one of the theories because the jabs are not protecting against avian flu. The jabs are to protect against human influenza infections. And one of the theories is that if you prevent people from getting influenza injections, then you prevent the possible, potential, re-assortment of viruses. If we do not have avian flu infections, obviously you wouldn't get re-assortment and of course all these jabs are not absolute. They are not protecting the person against avian flu, they are protecting the public against any potential re-assortment. So this will be applicable in places where avian flu is prevalent, where you expect poultry workers to get avian flu. But we are in Hong Kong where we do not have avian flu at the moment. Obviously there is at the moment if we assume that our vaccines are effective, then the poultry workers are not exposed to avian flu. Then there is no logic to say that you require to have the flu vaccine because the flu vaccine is to protect them against avian flu.

Reporter: (some of the countries have covered up the avian flu situation?)

Dr Yeoh: I think certainly there are difficulties in various countries in terms of their reporting mechanism because as you know that many countries will have very diverse systems. I would not comment in terms of how they report it but certainly in the Thailand meeting, there was a commitment of all the ministers present and the leadership present to provide the reliable information and to call for openness and transparency. I believe that was the commitment by everyone. Obviously we already are aware of the extent of the problem of this region. Obviously we are surrounded by areas, I mean there is the danger of the introduction from migratory birds and wild birds and of course, that usually, usually through introduction of that virus into the local poultry population. So we are looking at it not just in the Hong Kong perspective, but in the global perspective, to be able to contain all the issues that we talk about. Because the main worry is not just the threat to the poultry industry but to human health. The WHO has affirmed in the meeting that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission but that is still a problem because if you have very close contact of people with avian flu, you can still get people infected and died of it. But of course it will be a disaster if there is evidence of any human infection because the outbreak will be much larger. But to-date, the WHO has reaffirmed there is currently no human-to-human infection. So we are looking at a lot of things, some are potential, some are real. The real threat is, of course, spread of this avian flu in this region and the real threat of humans getting avian flu from the birds in this region. The potential fear is the potential fear of evolutions and mutations and human-to-human spread. At this stage, we are still dealing with the problems of the extent of avian flu in this region and the possible spread of infections from the birds to humans. We are not at this stage dealing with human-to-human transmission. Obviously these are things that everyone is very concerned about and a lot of work is being done to prevent that from happening.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)

Ends/Thursday, January 29, 2004
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