Press Releases

International partnership and co-operation important in combating SARS

Partnership and co-operation between different jurisdictions are important in the combat of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Mrs Carrie Yau Tsang Ka-lai, told health ministers attending the ASEAN + 3 Ministers of Health Meeting on SARS today (April 26) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Mrs Yau said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) were working closely with experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the health authorities in other parts of the country, and other international bodies to prevent the spread of the disease.

"I am confident that by joining hands through these kinds of partnerships, and meeting such as this one, we will together prevail over the SARS virus," she said.

Accounting for the sequence of SARS outbreaks in Hong Kong since March 11, Mrs Yau said the number of new cases had fallen and seemed to have stabilised, at around 20 to 30 daily.

As of yesterday (April 25), a total of 1,510 confirmed SARS cases were recorded in Hong Kong. In all, 614 patients had made a full recovery and been discharged while 126 were convalescing in hospitals. There were 115 deaths.

Sharing Hong Kong experience with ASEAN member countries, Mrs Yau said the HKSARG had developed four main strategies to combat the disease -- preventive measures; intensive public education; close collaboration with the Mainland and WHO; and effective treatment.

On preventive measures, Mrs Yau said health checks were enhanced at border points to protect the local community as well as the overseas communities from being infected, following the requirement of all incoming travelers to complete health declaration.

All arriving, departing and transit passengers at the airport, as well as people arriving at ports and land boundary crossings were now required to go through a temperature check, she said.

Pointing out the importance of protecting the health care workers when handling SARS patients, Mrs Yau outlined the infection control measures in public hospitals, including providing adequate protective gear, improving the hospitals' ventilation system, and training medical staff in infection control.

The public was also prohibited from visiting isolation wards and discouraged to visit the hospitals in general so as to minimise the spread of disease from the hospitals.

On contact tracing, Mrs Yau was happy to share with the meeting that Hong Kong had developed an enhanced computer surveillance system to trace the patients' contacts in a relatively short time, and to identify "hot spots" or buildings needing investigation by a multi-disciplinary response team.

In addition, hotlines were also set up for hotel guests and air passengers to obtain medical advice when a SARS patient was confirmed to have resided in the same hotel or travelled on the same flight.

A home confinement order was also in place for family members of suspected and confirmed SARS patients to further reduce the risk of spreading the disease, she added.

Turning to public education, Mrs Yau said: "There is a need to further raise the awareness of personal and environmental hygiene among the community."

The public was educated on the various aspects of the disease and the preventive measures to wear face masks, upkeep personal hygiene and seek early treatment, she said.

Apart from territory-wide cleansing day, intensive education publicity programmes were also launched in housing estates, public transport operators, schools, kindergartens, childcare centres, elderly centres and food premises.

On the collaborative front, Mrs Yau said Hong Kong was currently working with WHO experts in investigating the environmental factors causing the disease, and it would continue to work very closely not only with them but with the health authorities in other parts of the country and other international bodies to prevent the spread of the disease.

In treating SARS patients, Mrs Yau noted the standard treatment regime was a combination of the anti-viral drug Ribavirin and steroid, which had produced a good response rate of over 80 per cent.

Of the 115 patients who succumbed to the disease, 96 were elderly people or had co-existing illnesses.

Mrs Yau said clinicians were exploring alternative treatment methods for those who failed to respond to the standard treatment regime including the use of recovered patients' sera, immunoglobulin and traditional Chinese medicine.

"We remain open to new modalities based on international experience and scientific evidence," she said.

Mrs Yau reckoned that Hong Kong's strengths would help people ride out the current crisis.

"We are extremely proud to have a team of dedicated professional, medical and support staff to fight this awful disease.

"We have a transparent system of communication, so that both the international and local communities are kept up-to-date on the latest developments.

"We are also fortunate to have an understanding and co-operative public, who have stood behind us in our fight against the disease despite considerable inconvenience.

"Last but not least is the determination of the HKSARG in taking stringent public health measures to control the spread of the disease," she said.

Mrs Yau joined the ASEAN meeting as part of the Chinese Delegation. Today's meeting was a prelude to a SARS summit of heads of governments from ASEAN in Bangkok on April 29.

End/Saturday, April 26, 2003
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