Press Releases
SFH on human swine flu
Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and
Health, Dr York Chow, the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection, Dr
Thomas Tsang, the District Commander (Wan Chai) of the Hong Kong Police
Force, Mr Blake Hancock, and the Principal Transport Officer of Transport
Department, Mr Albert Su, at a press conference today (May 8):
Secretary for Food and Health: Today there is no new confirmed case. Hong
Kong is preparing ourselves for the termination of our quarantine period for
the 300 people who are being quarantined until today. They can leave the
Metropark Hotel and also the camps at 8.30 tonight. I will invite the
Transport Department and the Police to explain the arrangements later on. I
believe most Hong Kong people feel that we have won the first battle and are
able to control the spread of the infection from the first index patient.
But it does not mean that we can be complacent. As an international city
with very frequent international travels, it is not surprising that might be
encountering subsequent cases in future. So, I hope that everyone in Hong
Kong will be able to keep up high vigilance and sensitivity, ensure that you
look after your own environment, the hygienic conditions and your personal
hygiene, and support and cooperate with the Government in this battle
against the potential pandemic. I would like to thank various sectors of the
society and our citizens for your support and understanding. You allow us to
enforce an appropriate policy in order to ensure that we can contain this
unknown virus. As I mentioned two days ago, we shall review the operation
and later gathered information from various countries and the World Health
Organisation so that we can update our policy for subsequent handling of any
index patient. In view of that, we might have to adjust some of our
strategies in future. And I promise we shall announce those measures later
next week. First, I invite the Controller of the Centre for Health
Protection to read out some of the data today, and then subsequently I would
invite the District Commander (Wan Chai) Mr Hancock and Mr So from the
Transport Department.
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: Over the past seven
days, Hong Kong Police Force has been working very closely with other
government departments to facilitate the operations at the hotel in Wan Chai.
Clearly, that causes disruption to the area, Wan Chai, being the very busy
part of Hong Kong Island. However, all the departments, including the
Police, are working very hard to minimise the disruption around the hotel.
Those ground rules apply equally this evening and in close conjunctions with
our colleagues and other departments as Transport Department. We will do
everything we can to minimise the disruption this evening when roads around
the hotel are to be closed. Those closure will only be put in place fully as
and when required by the events on the ground. And as soon as the situation
outside the hotel starts to clear, we will, with the Transport Department
colleagues, attempt to reopen vehicle lane as early as we possibly can and
get traffic and pedestrian areas back to normal. Thank you.
Reporter: When to lower the response level?
Secretary for Food and Health: What I mean for success is so far, after
seven days of confining the index patient, we have not found a case as
related to him. I think this is what we term as success for this index
patient. It does not mean that it is successful for every subsequent case.
But we learn a lot from this case. We also learn a lot from other countries
on this particular virus in the last week. So, this gives us more time to
understand this virus and this infection. I am sure with this time, we are
able to have a new strategy for subsequent handling of this infection in the
days to come. As far as the alert level goes, I have mentioned time and
again that our emergency level is linked to two elements. One is a reported
case in Hong Kong and second is the WHO's warning on the imminent pandemic.
As WHO will be reviewing their level of alert in the next couple of days, so
it is not appropriate for us to lower our emergency level at this moment. We
will see what is happening and also the world figure seems to be still
climbing. So, it is important we should know what the rest of the world is
facing and not just what we are facing. It is important to know that this
level of alert is important and is also an alert to signify that everyone,
including everyone in our community, need to be on alert about this
situation and we should not relax yet.
Reporter: (contact tracing)
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: According to our latest
record, the number of missing guests in the hotel now stands at two because
we found some extra people and also our record checks with the Immigration
Department and so on. So, it is not a perfect record. Right now, there are
286 people staying at the hotel, we still haven't found two. It is like 99
per cent, we are still not 100 per cent yet. So, we have done our best and
sometimes assess how reality goes but we maintain a very vigilant attitude
towards contact tracing. We are doing our very best to trace all the
contacts.
Reporter: Are they local or overseas guests?
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: Overseas guests.
Reporter: (inaudible)
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: Actually you have
to appreciate that this is a major undertaking for the whole Government. And
the operation at the hotel was not through much of the choice. That is what
it happens. That is the timing. It is a very busy street corner. It is a
very busy hotel. It is a very busy part of Wan Chai. So, when we consider
the necessary arrangements for the release operation at 8.30pm tonight, you
have to look at all of the associated action that goes along with that. And
while we try to facilitate the multiple government departments involved in
the operation, clearly, we also have a duty and responsibility to the local
residents and traffic passing through. Therefore, a lot of consultations and
discussions were made with colleagues from other departments looking at
their needs, and especially with professional colleagues in the Transport
Department, looking at how this would help and affect on local bus routes
and traffic and pedestrian flow. Taking all those factors into account, the
closure orders were issued and covered the period we consider was coming up
to the peak on the Friday evening in Wan Chai, which is just clearly a busy
time of the week. However, as I have said before, we will try to introduce
the closure on the rolling bases as and when required. Certainly, as soon as
the situation outside the hotel starts to clear, we will begin to reopen
lanes as quickly as we possibly can. Thank you!
Reporter: Is it the Mexican national patient will not be released today?
What would you expect once the quarantine ends, all the guests are going to
be coming out at once, are they free to go where they want? Are they getting
on a bus?
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: The most important criteria,
of course, is that the index patient should not be infectious. He should not
be carrying the virus. And he should have zero chance of infecting other
people. So, we will make sure that it is satisfied before we release him.
Based on the laboratory tests that have been conducted on this patient for
the past few days, we are pretty sure he was free of the virus. Plus the
fact that he has been put on the Tamiflu, which would effectively reduce the
virus load. And the ultimate decision when to release the patient is up to
the attending clinician.
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: Once the isolation
order expires at 8.30 tonight, all the guests and all the staffs who are
under isolation are free to leave the premises. Is there free choice? Is
there anywhere they wish to go? And I understand that my colleagues and
other government departments have made arrangement to facilitate their
onward movement, either to the airport, to local hotels, or other places
they wish to go. The police's role in that is to ensure that we can maintain
smooth traffic flow in the area, that the operation to move the guests
elsewhere, facilitate the press, monitoring of that and the attention to
that is maintained that the operation proceeds smoothly, the hotel can get
on with it. So, we can get the street and the people back to normal for the
residents of Hong Kong.
Reporter: So if they come down to the press area, are we free to approach
them as they come out of the hotel?
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: At the moment,
because this is a major international event and it is attracting so much
attention both locally and overseas. There is excessive press interest. And
the interest of facilitating the press at the scene, it has to be some
element of control, otherwise, if everybody is running around on the street
and the pavement and that clearly is going to cause even more disruption in
that corner of Wan Chai. So, what has been done is that together with
colleagues in information service, and other involved departments, we have
agreed a number of measures, to provide the best possible viewing area and
interview area for the press to monitor the process of the people being
released. As soon as the situation quiets down and the guests start to go or
leave the area. Then, clearly we will review how we are setting up the
operation outside the hotel and getting traffic and pedestrian flow back to
normal.
Reporter: Are there buses for them, taxi, what kind of transportation?
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: That is not really
a matter for police to comment on, but of course I am aware of that there
are arrangements tonight for a number of buses to be parked outside the
hotel and guests who wish to go to other destinations will be facilitated
and of course police will assist with that.
Secretary for Food and Health: Maybe I can supplement that a little. The
principle is to ensure that those people who are leaving for the airport to
go first because they might have a flight to catch. So I hope the media
would allow at least that group to leave without any difficulty and so on.
The second thing is, I have also received the comments from some of the
people staying in the hotel, and they may not like to be approached too
directly by the media, and I hope that you can also respect their privacy
and only request them if they are willing to talk to you, and come up to the
microphone area so that they are free to express their experience and so on.
But, I hope, at that place, we do not actually think that it is feasible for
you to approach them individually because they will be travelling with
luggage, and all sort of other articles. If we allow too many people there,
there might be difficulty in organising everybody to go to the place at the
right time. As far as transports go, we have arranged different destinations
for different groups. As you know that we have offered two hotels for them
to go to, and most people actually prefer to go to the two hotels while a
number of people go to the airport directly, some to the land borders, and
some would also like to make their own arrangements as well. And we will
respect that.
Reporter: (inaudible)
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: As I have said,
there will be regular emphasis put on introducing the closure smoothly in a
phase way to meet the need. And likewise, at the other end of the operation,
as soon as things at the hotel starts to calm down, we will be clearly
aiming at getting traffic to be moving again. That would mean opening one
lane to start with, and then gradually, open a second or third lane. Whether
we can clear the road immediately really depends on what happens after 8.30
tonight. And at the moment, that is a big question mark. So, we will be
closely monitoring. I am the commander on the ground. I have senior traffic
officers on the ground with me. And it is not someone who would sit back and
wait. We will actually be very actively looking at getting traffic moving
again.
Reporter: (inaudible)
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: When it is closer
to 8.30 this evening, our manpower would peak because as I have said before,
the big unknown is exactly what would happen at 8.30pm, when the staffs and
guests come out, whether they want to spend sometime on the side
celebrating, or want to go straight on the bus, or talk to the press.
Clearly, it is not something I am in the position to answer. So, the
majority of the resource is drawn from within Wan Chai district, under my
direct command, but we will be assisted by officers from police technical
unit, and of course traffic Hong Kong Island, to make sure traffic in the
area remains smooth.
Reporter: (inaudible)
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: The buses will be
parked in Fenwick Street, immediately outside the hotel because that is the
best location to facilitate the guests and staff coming out, getting on
board. It also causes the least disruption to the other parts of Wan Chai.
One of our aims in working closely with other departments is to minimise the
disruption in and around the hotel. Clearly this operation has been on a
week and the biggest part now is to clear the hotel, and for everybody to
resume their lives. So the buses will be confined within an area in Fenwick
Street between Hennessey Road and Lockhart Road. And now the route they
take, would depend on their destinations, and as the Secretary has already
said, some would go to the airport, some would go to other hotels in Kowloon
or Hong Kong, some will go up to the boundary in Huanggang and then clearly,
there will be people facilitating them to go elsewhere. That process will
clearly, after take place at 8.30, once everybody is on the bus, and that
will also be facilitated by the police.
Question: (inaudible)
District Commander (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Police Force: At the moment, the
idea is to bring them not on the Hennessy Road. Clearly, this is going to
create even more problems if we do that. So, bring them down towards
Gloucester Road way, but then the routes vary depending on where they are
going and also would depend on the traffic situation on the time.
Reporter: This is a question of some of the international guests in the
hotel asked me to ask you. They wonder why do you decide to quarantine the
whole hotel with all these floors and all these separate rooms, but do not
decide to quarantine the whole airplane, but just the part of the people in
the airplane with shared air-conditioning. What is the difference and what
is your conclusion?
Secretary for Food and Health: I think we made that explanation a few days
ago, perhaps Dr Tsang can repeat that, particularly for the Dutch viewers.
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: Yes, I think it is important
to address that question. There is a difference here. In airplanes, there is
more information from the literature regarding the spread of respiratory
infections like tuberculosis, like measles and so on. So it is rather
standard practice in terms of contact tracing and here in this case,
quarantine, that we identify the passengers a few rows in front and to a few
rows behind and then observe them for a defined period, which is seven days.
There is another point. It is the airflow conditions in the plane. It is
supposed to be very high airflow volume situation. Professor KY Yuen of Hong
Kong University mentioned on averages like 20 air changes per minute. And
that is a very high degree of air circulation, which place a limit the
spread of these diseases. And there is a filter called a HEPA filter in the
airplane, which effectively clears all the viruses.
In the hotel, the situation is different for a number of reasons. First of
all, there is very little literature regarding spread of these infections in
the hotel. Secondly, looking back in SARS during 2003, we have one very
famous case living in one hotel, and because of environmental contamination,
he had the infection and spread to at least a dozen other guests in the
hotel. And those guests further spread the disease and causing many clusters
locally and internationally. So this time around, we adopt a rather cautious
attitude. We do not know how this virus behaves in a hotel setting. So that
is why we determine to put the whole hotel and the guests under quarantine
and observe them for seven days.
Reporter: �K�Kwho live 10 or 15 floors higher than the Mexican that have never
met him, or a French person that just walked into a room for a couple of
minutes, has more chance of being infected with this influenza virus than
someone who was sitting four rows in front of him?
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: Well, I think that depends
on whether there is you know some unknown factors in disease transmission in
hotel setting. If you remember the report in the 2003 SARS outbreak,
apparently we found some virus remnants on the carpet, you know, on the
floor. And that is believed to be one of the major routes where the virus
spread. So that has to do with the environment. Another example was of
course the famous Amoy Gardens outbreak, in which the sewer was implicated
as an environmental vehicle for spreading the disease. So this time we got
to be sure that similar factors are not at play in the hotel. So that is why
we adopted more prudent attitude. We hope that by gathering more data this
time, trying to eliminate some of these factors, and this will guide our
future directions whether we are going to do the same next time around.
Reporter: Mr Secretary, after 8.30 tonight, would you issue arrest warrants
for the two missing guests? And what sort of legal action are you going to
take?
Secretary for Food and Health: We will consider legal advice whether that is
necessary and also perhaps the public health angle whether it is also
necessary. Of course they were given a quarantine order. So in a way they
still have a legal responsibility there.
Reporter: (inaudible)
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: I think we do have that
information but we need to see whether there is any contravention to privacy
issue and so on. We may have to seek legal advice on that.
Reporter: (inaudible)
Secretary for Food and Health: I have not actually gone through the list
myself, so I can't comment on that.
Reporter: If missing guests are found in the control points, do they need to
be quarantined?
Controller of Centre for Health Protection: I think that depends on whether
they have any illness at the time they are located or identified. If they
are completely symptom free, then there is no point to do any quarantine
because incubation period has already passed. If they are symptomatic, then
they definitely need to undergo a health check to make sure they do not have
the infection.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese session of the transcript)
Ends/Friday, May 8, 2009
Issued at HKT 23:41
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