Tag Archives: China

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, convened a meeting of the Steering Committee cum Command Centre in relation to the Novel Coronavirus today (January 26). As the outbreak is mainly found and the situation is getting more severe in the Hubei Province, and experts have advised that asymptomatic patients would increase the difficulties in disease prevention and control, the Steering Committee cum Command Centre has decided to impose restrictions on all Hubei Province residents and people who visited the Hubei Province in the past 14 days from entering Hong Kong until further notice to reduce the chances of infected persons entering the city.
      
     With effect from 0.00am tomorrow (January 27), except for Hong Kong residents, residents from Hubei Province and persons who visited the Hubei Province in the past 14 days will not be permitted to enter Hong Kong until further notice. To facilitate the implementation of the above-mentioned measure, all the self-service clearance channels (i.e. e-Channels) at control points will only be open to Hong Kong residents. Non-Hong Kong residents have to use normal immigration counters for immigration clearance. The clearance process may take longer time and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government appeals for travellers’ understanding for the inconvenience caused.
      
     Mrs Lam announced yesterday (January 25) the activation of Emergency Response Level under the “Preparedness and Response Plan for Novel Infectious Disease of Public Health Significance” and rolled out a package of strategies and measures to tackle the disease. In particular, given the current confirmed cases in Hong Kong are imported ones, the HKSAR Government enhanced the immigration control to contain the spread of the virus. The Steering Committee cum Command Centre is monitoring the development of the disease and listening to advice of experts to study measures that can further reduce the chances of infected people entering Hong Kong.
      
     At the meeting today, the Steering Committee cum Command Centre considered that, for public health and disease containment, restriction should be imposed as soon as possible on residents of Hubei Province and persons who visited Hubei Province in the past 14 days from entering into Hong Kong, before the formulation of other more comprehensive measures. read more

     To tie in with the response level under the “Preparedness and Response Plan for Novel Infectious Disease of Public Health Significance” being raised to Emergency Response Level, a spokesman for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) today (January 26) offered details of additional measures.
 
     The LCSD will, from tomorrow (January 27), close all children’s play rooms in the indoor sports centres, the Toy Library and the Children’s Multimedia Room of the Hong Kong Central Library, the Children’s Discovery Gallery of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and the Children Gallery of Hong Kong Science Museum until further notice.
 
     At the same time, the department has temporarily closed two holiday camps which were converted into quarantine centres for close contact persons.
 
     “We shall keep the situation under review and further enhance the precautionary measures if necessary,” the spokesman added. read more

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (January 26) reported a suspected case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and again urged the public to pay special attention to safety during travel, taking due consideration of the health risks in the places they visit. The case is detailed below:
 

Sex	Female
Age	31
Affected area involved	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
High-risk exposure	Nil
Hospital	Princess Margaret Hospital
Condition	Stable
MERS-Coronavirus preliminary test result	Negative

 
     “Travellers to the Middle East should avoid going to farms, barns or markets with camels; avoid contact with sick persons and animals, especially camels, birds or poultry; and avoid unnecessary visits to healthcare facilities. We strongly advise travel agents organising tours to the Middle East to abstain from arranging camel rides and activities involving direct contact with camels, which are known risk factors for acquiring MERS Coronavirus (MERS-CoV),” a spokesman for the CHP said.

     Locally, the CHP’s surveillance with public and private hospitals, with practising doctors and at boundary control points is firmly in place. Inbound travellers and members of the public who recently visited the Middle East and developed relevant symptoms within 14 days will be classified as suspected MERS cases. They will be taken to public hospitals for isolation and management until their specimens test negative for MERS-CoV.

     Travellers to affected areas should maintain vigilance, adopt appropriate health precautions and take heed of personal, food and environmental hygiene. The public may visit the MERS pages of the CHP and its Travel Health Service, MERS statistics in affected areas, the CHP’s Facebook Page and YouTube Channel, and the World Health Organization’s latest news for more information and health advice. Tour leaders and tour guides operating overseas tours are advised to refer to the CHP’s health advice on MERS. read more

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations: Please broadcast the following message as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:        Around 9pm today (January 26), rioters blocked roads and behaved… read more

     In response to the latest development of the novel coronavirus infection, the Government yesterday (January 25) announced a package of measures to tackle the disease. Apart from strengthening immigration control measures, the p… read more