Press Releases
SFH on human swine flu (with photo)
Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) made by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, after meeting the 18 District
Council chairmen and vice-chairmen at Southorn Centre today (April 30):
Secretary for Food and Health: I have just met with the chairmen and
vice-chairmen of the 18 District Councils and reported to them on the new
measures the Government has taken on the preparedness for the pandemic. And
we have received support from all of them.
Many of the District Councils have already made preparations in their
respective districts, so they are ready to support the Government and also
to mobilise the community to enhance the cleansing campaign of the city as
well as to give information to the citizens regarding environmental hygiene
and this impending pandemic.
The Government has also allocated initially $10 million to the 18 District
Councils, so that each of the council would receive at least half a million
in order to deliver the campaign. We also know that this morning, WHO has
elevated the pandemic alert from phase four to phase five, it means that the
pandemic is imminent. The Government has also made a decision that we will
raise our alert level to the highest level, that is, emergency as soon as it
is required. Once WHO is going to announce that the pandemic alert has
raised to phase six, or there is a first confirmed case of human swine flu
in Hong Kong, we will definitely raise our alert level to emergency
immediately. So no matter whether it is the Government or citizens, we must
not be complacent.
We must raise our alert and be vigilant against any impending threat of
pandemic. So although we have done everything we need, we still need to have
support of our citizens. The Government will mobilise our resources, and if
it is necessary, we will also exercise the law regarding emergency authority
of the Government so that we can isolate and quarantine patients and if
required, try to use the resources from the private sectors.
As I mentioned earlier on, the border control is one of our important
measures. Starting from today, every visitor to Hong Kong from the airport
needs to make a health declaration. Also, because it is a long weekend
starting from tomorrow, the land borders will also be strengthened with
nursing stations and increasing staffs in helping visitors, to give them any
support in case of need.
The Department of Health will be meeting the corresponding officials in
Shenzhen, to ensure that their counterpart is also doing the same thing on
the other side of the border. Regarding the medical facilities, the Hospital
Authority is already well prepared to handle any new cases of swine flu in
case it starts to emerge.
We have also co-coordinated with the private doctors, including the Hong
Kong Medical Association. We have also discussed with them about the
pandemic situation and give them guidelines, so that they can help the
Government to inform the patients and their families regarding the swine flu
situation. They will also actively support the health education and
activities in the 18 districts.
Hong Kong is a place that is densely populated. We also have a lot of
international movement. So it is not an easy task to prevent any spread of
swine flu pandemic. So we must cooperate, we must help out each other and
also look out for helping each other. We must ensure that we are doing the
best preparation and at the same time preparing for the worst.
I hope that every citizen, every corporation, including the transport
corporations, shopping malls, restaurants, cinemas, is able to help. So we
can keep good environmental hygiene and personal hygiene. If we can do that,
we can minimise the spread of pandemic to the minimum. Thank you very much.
Reporter: (inaudible)
Secretary for Food and Health: If you listen to the advice of the WHO. They
have already said that restriction of travelling would not be effective by
now because it has already spread to the rest of the world, quite a number
of countries and continents. But as far as Hong Kong is concerned, since we
have not had the first case, we still like to grasp this opportunity to
minimise this spread or risk. If we can identify the first case at the
border, we can start isolating them, we can also quarantine those close
contacts, we can minimise the spread. But of course, if there are multiple
entrances in Hong Kong, the first case turns out to be somebody who has no
symptoms when they pass through our border and develop symptoms subsequently
and able to pass on other people, then of course we might not be able to
abort this transmission. So, I think we are doing everything to minimise it,
first at the border and if necessary in the community level. We have to make
preparation for different stages. If necessary, we would like to make order
to minimise the activities of the city so that we can minimise human
contacts as much as possible and retain only the essential services. This is
what we have planned so far. We hope that we need not actually activate
this.
Reporter: (index patient)
Secretary for Food and Health: If you look at the incubation period of this
virus which is commonly three to four days, with a maximum of seven days. If
people travelling from, say Mexico or nearby places that are affected by
this virus, it probably takes him about two to three days before he arrives
to Hong Kong when he first has the contact with the virus. The chance that
this person might have already had the infection or having the infection is
still high. Of course, there are people who might have a longer incubation
period who might come in and still they don't know they are actually having
the virus. So, there would be the patients who would only start the
noticeable after he arrives in Hong Kong. We try to catch the first two
groups if possible. I think Hong Kong still has this advantage in terms of
travelling time and so on to do this. Since we do not have direct flights to
Mexico, most people arrive from Mexico, say would perhaps spend at least 24
hours before actually coming to Hong Kong. There is a chance we might catch
them.
Reporter: (inaudible)
Secretary for Food and Health: In our health declaration form, we have
specified whether someone has been in contact with somebody who has symptoms
of swine flu, although they might be asymptomatic. If they have that
contact, we will request them to be either home quarantine or they would
come to the hospital for examination. This depends on the history taken by
our health officials at the port health positions.
Reporter: (inaudible)
Secretary for Food and Health: If there is no hint of whatsoever anybody has
been in contact with any swine flu patient, there is no way that we can
actually detect it. So, we can only go according to what the passengers have
experienced in the last seven days. This is the best we can do.
Reporter: (no additional resources at the airport)
Secretary for Food and Health: Of course, we will increase the staff at the
airport of the port health. As I have said earlier, you cannot detect
anybody who is asymptomatic, have no history of contact and yet ask him to
be quarantined. That is not really reasonable. I think it is important to
have more detailed information from those passengers and their volunteered
information given to us. And if this pandemic is affecting everybody and has
been widely publicised in the international media, I believe that most
people would be worried about their health. If they suspect that they have
been in contact with somebody who might pass this novel virus to them, I
believe they would volunteer and try to seek help when they arrive in Hong
Kong.
Reporter: (inaudible)
Secretary for Food and Health: First point about what would be predicted
scenario regarding the pandemic, there are schools of thought, one is
pessimist and one is optimist. Because there is so much unknown about this
virus, I don't think it is right for us to make any so-called assumptions
and tell the public about those assumptions. But I can tell you that it
ranges from a seasonal flu type of scenario which is the mildness to
something like the 1918 scenario where you have millions of people died from
it. I don't think we need to make this assumption at this point of time,
rather we try to follow the progress of this pandemic in every place. I've
said earlier on, if you look at the city make-up of Hong Kong, and also the
lifestyle and the human traffic of Hong Kong, it is very much like New York
city. We will take reference of what is happening in the New York city as
one way of assessing what is the likely scenario in Hong Kong. Although we
might have other differences, but I think that at the moment, this is
something that we think is rather relevant. We have actually asked the Hong
Kong trade office in New York to give us a daily report of what is happening
in New York. At the same time, we also have constant liaison with some of
the researchers and academics in the United States and try to get the most
updated information on what is their scenario over there. Your second
question of our preparedness this time compared with SARS, of course, there
are certain differences. In SARS, we do not know even the virus when the
patients get infected. It is only three or four weeks after the first
infection before we discover the virus. Irrespective of the diagnostic
methodology and treatment methods, the first few weeks during SARS, I would
have to say that it is very challenging. This time, we are slightly better
because we know that genetic make-up of the virus. We are probably being
able to develop a quick diagnostic test within the next week or so. We also
know that the virus is sensitive to the medicine we have stockpiled. So,
those are the so-called positive points. Of course, the negative point this
time is that it is spreading quite fast. I think it is also spreading in the
community rather than in the hospital like SARS patient. This is a huge
difference. That is also the reason why the WHO has remarked that it is
pointless to control the border. It is better to try to mitigate the spread
in the community. But since Hong Kong has not faced the first case, we feel
that there is still a chance of catching it as early as possible.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, April 30, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:50
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