HK unveils measures to prevent spread of pneumonia-like disease

Patients suspected of having symptoms of pneumonia as they enter Hong Kong from Wuhan in Hubei province will be mandatorily quarantined and banned from leaving Hong Kong starting from Wednesday, the city's health authorities announced on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, all medical practitioners are required to notify the authorities about any suspected cases of pneumonia and have been given legal power to place suspected patients under mandatory quarantine from Wednesday.

The government may also ban people in contact with the patients from leaving the city.

The new rules take effect after the government amended the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance to list the mystery illness as a notifiable disease on Wednesday, in order to prevent a possible spread of the unidentified pneumonia-like disease.

In addition, health authorities have stepped up border checks, especially at the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminal. All passengers on trains from Wuhan need to go through body temperature checks starting from Monday.

The government also asked schools, shopping centers and restaurants to scale up sanitation work after the city's Hospital Authority raised the response level for infectious diseases to "serious"－level two on a three-tier scale.

Speaking to reporters before her weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the government will respond to suspicious cases promptly and seriously and in a transparent manner, although the city has yet to confirm any cases of the pneumonia-like disease.

She added that the government will update the public through media outlets and social media.

Between noon on Monday and noon on Tuesday, eight more patients were identified with fever, respiratory infection or pneumonia symptoms in Hong Kong after visiting Wuhan over the past two weeks, taking the total number to 30. Of these, 13 have been discharged from the hospital and the rest are in stable condition.

The Hospital Authority said these patients had not been to any wet market in Wuhan. A now-closed wet market was believed to be the source of this unknown illness, according to mainland authorities, with 59 cases reported as of Sunday since the outbreak was revealed on Dec 31.

Chung Kin-lai, director of quality and safety at the authority, said that the number of isolation beds in public hospitals is able to be increased to 1,400 within 72 hours if the situation worsens.

In addition, the stockpile of personal protection equipment in public hospitals, including surgical mask and N95 mask, is adequate for three months, according to the Hospital Authority.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee urged residents to ensure personal hygiene.