The inter-departmental meeting on pneumonia cases in Wuhan, Hubei Province was held today (January 2). The Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, Dr Wong Ka-hing, and the Chief Executive of the Hospital Authority, Dr Tony Ko, met the media after the meeting. Following is the transcript of remarks made by Professor Chan:
Reporter: There are three cases that the Hospital Authority reported to the Centre for Health Protection. Do you have more details? The three people went to Wuhan and could you provide more information on where did they go? Can the Secretary further detail the action measures, health checks that are conducting and the follow-up reporting procedures?
Secretary for Food and Health: First of all, I will talk about the key message and then I will invite Dr Ko to talk about the three cases. The first important message is that so far, we have not received any Wuhan-related severe pneumonia cases. The three cases that we were talking about – that were admitted to the Hospital Authority – had not actually visited the Wuhan market. They have been to Wuhan before and came back but then they have not visited the market. The second important message that I would like to deliver is that due to the public concern, starting from tomorrow, the Government will announce the number of related cases under the heightened surveillance system. Of course, there are increased surveillance procedures that both the Hospital Authority and the Department of Health have taken place, notably is the port health. At the boundary check points – both the airlines and the express train – there would be announcements and there will be increased surveillance on fever using different machines. If they identify any person with fever, then the people will be taken aside for a questionnaire to understand more about their clinical history. Of course, during the inter-departmental meeting just now, bureaus and different departments will also step up the cleaning of their facilities. For example, the Education Bureau, Social Welfare Department, they will receive a letter from the Centre for Health Protection and then, they will write letters to their stakeholders to alert them of the situation and also to give advice on personal as well as environmental hygiene measures.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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