Press Releases

SFH on human swine flu (with photo)

Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, and the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection, Dr Thomas Tsang at a stand-up media session at Legislative Council Building today (May 11):

Reporter: How concerned are you about the latest case concerning the Northwest flight, and also if China confirmed the first case, what sort of measures will Hong Kong take?

Secretary for Food and Health: We are always concerned about patients who might carry the virus to Hong Kong, whether those contacts can be traced early, whether they can be identified and placed under quarantine or medical surveillance. So, every case that might have such implication will concern us. Just remember the last weekend, regarding the three Japanese cases, we have worked very hard in order to trace all the people who have been in contact with the Japanese patients, who came to Hong Kong either directly or indirectly. We have already identified the two close contacts. We were able to place them under quarantine and they have been tested negative for the virus so far. We are still undergoing tests for the rest of the contacts, and most of them are already put into hospitals for testing and quarantine. We believe that this particular episode has allowed us to work very closely following our guidelines. So for every case that might have such suspicion, we have already started working, and once it is confirmed, then of course we will make sure that work is being done.

Reporter: How about the China case, if it is confirmed?

Secretary for Food and Health: Once it is confirmed, we will start tracing those people who might actually pass through Hong Kong. Once we got the name list, the Immigration Department will check whether they have passed through Hong Kong, whether they have entered Hong Kong, or just arrived in Hong Kong airport as a transit passenger and so on, we need to do that once it is confirmed.

Reporter: Dr Tsang, can I assume that you are still trying to look for one passenger. You have already located 11, but one is still missing, right?

Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: I think you mean the passengers from the NW 025, we are still looking for two passengers, whom we do not have concrete information about. Of the rest, I mean the other 17, we have either already located them, or referred them to hospital, or put them under medical surveillance.

Reporter: What about the two unaccountable guests from Metro Park, have you ever found them?

Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: I think we have not located them at this point.

Reporter: Are you concerned?

Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: I am not particularly concerned because the incubation period is already over and the quarantine has been lifted. And all the other residents and guests in the hotel, they are free from the infection. So I think the risks posed by these two persons are really not very high.

Reporter: Mr Secretary, can I just ask you why don't you just follow Beijing and be very tough on western visitors and especially those from North America?

Secretary for Food and Health: As you know that, people coming from Mexico or anywhere in North America, they do not necessarily come directly from those cities to Hong Kong. Most of them might have stopped over in Asian cities as well. So I do not think you can impose such a widespread travelling ban on people coming to Hong Kong without a good scientific evidence. It is important for us to give clear information to them to report any sickness. At the same time, we have a series of protection that we have instilled at our borders, including health declaration, thermal screening. And those people working in the Immigration Department will also look at various passengers, enquire where they come from, and be able to inform them about the risk of transmitting diseases. So it is not just one single policy that is effective. It is a series of multiple policies coming together that can protect us. So I need to stress again, we cannot just rely on one single measure, we have to rely on these groups of measures, so that we can ensure Hong Kong is still safe. And even if we have imported case, we hope that we can detect it early so that we can contain it as much as we can. At the moment, this is still our objective.

(Please also refer to the Chinese session of the transcript)


Ends/Monday, May 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 13:23

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