HA to report to police patients, kin who suppress health facts

HONG KONG - To minimize the danger of the new coronavirus spreading, Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said it would report those to police who intentionally hide their illness for follow up action.

The authority's Chief Executive Tony Ko Pat-sing said in his blog on Wednesday that the move was to prevent medics from being exposed to unnecessary risks and to contain the risks of community infection.

Ko noted that the decision was made after several patients and their relatives failed to disclose relevant information such as medical history, details of close contacts and travel records to medical personnel.

Such omissions have created unnecessary difficulties for medics in diagnosing illnesses, isolating patients and arranging medical tests and also significantly increased the risks of medics and other patients getting infected, Ko wrote.

He said the next few weeks will be critical for Hong Kong in containing the novel coronavirus outbreak and keeping medical personnel safe should be one of the top policy priorities.

To ensure that, the Hospital Authority has adjusted some non-emergency medical services to concentrate resources on combatting the coronavirus, Ko wrote in his blog. It will also adopt a fair and just principle in arranging front-line medics to take care of patients in isolation wards, and consider offering accommodations for frontline medical staff, he wrote.

The pneumonia-like disease, which hit Wuhan first in the Chinese mainland and rapidly spread across the nation and some overseas cities, has caused 7,711 people to fall ill and left 170 dead.

As of Wednesday, Hong Kong confirmed 10 cases of the novel coronavirus infection. All of the patients have been sent to isolation wards and their close contacts are under medical surveillance.