Press Releases

Government responds to media report on SARS

        In response to a news report of Cable TV today (May 23) on the remarks made by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong on the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak last year, a spokesman for the Bureau said that the Government adopted an open and transparent approach in the dissemination of information right from the beginning and this was confirmed by the SARS Expert Committee.

        "At the press briefing on March 14, 2003, Dr Yeoh described what was happening with regard to the outbreak in the Prince of Wales Hospital," the spokesman said.

        "The SARS Expert Committee considered that Dr Yeoh's statement was technically correct and there was no evidence to suggest that the debate on whether there was a community outbreak of SARS in any way lowered public alertness to the public health threat of SARS," the spokesman said.

        The following facts and clarifications are relevant:

* At the press briefing on March 14, Dr Yeoh explained that there was no unusual increase in the number of atypical pneumonia cases. The remarks were based on factual and accurate data which was available at the time.

* At the same briefing, Dr Yeoh pointed out the unique outbreak in the Prince of Wales Hospital and the other three clusters of cases, which were a subset of atypical pneumonia. He also said that there was a special occurrence of atypical pneumonia among healthcare workers and that the Government was trying to find out the cause of this phenomenon.

Ends/ Sunday, May 23, 2004

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