The Center for Health Protection (CHP) of the Hong Kong
government announced Monday that it has been notified by the
Guangdong Province Health Department of the?mainland that
there was no human case of avian influenza and atypical pneumonia
in the province.
Consultant (Community Medicine) of the CHP, Dr. Thomas Tsang
made the announcement after he chaired an inter-departmental
meeting on avian influenza on Monday.
The meeting was attended by representatives from different Hong
Kong government departments and health organizations including the
Health, Welfare and Food Bureau, Department of Health, Hospital
Authority, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, and the
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
When giving a roundup of the meeting, Dr. Tsang said that
although there was no human case of avian flu in Hong Kong and
Guangdong Province, recent reports of avian flu cases in other
places of the Mainland and overseas as well as the detection of
H5N1 virus in local wild birds had indicated that the disease
remained a threat to the community.
According to Dr. Tsang, following the activation of the Alert
Response Level of the government's Influenza Pandemic Preparedness
Plan in January, 2005, preventive measures had been put in place in
the disease surveillance system and poultry control measures at
farms, markets and ports.
Additional measures will be implemented in the event of
confirmed poultry outbreak or human cases of avian flu in Hong
Kong, he said.
The Department of Health and the Hospital Authority have been
working closely on infection control measures, including
formulation of infection control guidelines and training of health
care workers and carers.
At the community level, the government has widely publicized
messages of avian flu and pandemic influenza prevention via
different channels, such as TV, radio, internet, outreach programs,
seminars and publicity materials.
Also, the government will continue to maintain close liaison
with the World Health Organization and the Chinese mainland
authorities to obtain the latest information about the global and
regional situation, said Dr. Tsang who introduced related measures
that had been put up between Hong Kong, Macao and the Mainland
authorities in recent years.
Hong Kong signed the Co-operation Agreements on response
Mechanism for Public Health Emergencies with the Mainland Ministry
of Health and Macao in October, 2005, and with Guangdong and Macao
health departments in June, 2006.
Meanwhile, a notification agreement was signed with the Mainland
Ministry of Agriculture on animal diseases, including avian flu.
The ministry will notify Hong Kong of outbreaks of avian flu among
poultry and other major animal diseases.
With many people traveling overseas during the Chinese New Year
holiday, Dr. Tsang called on people who planned to go to areas with
avian flu cases to be extra vigilant and observe good personal
hygiene to prevent infection.
"People should strictly observe personal and environmental
hygiene, and stay away from dead birds, avoid contact with wild
birds and live poultry and their droppings," he said, adding "they
are also urged not to feed or release wild birds, and surrender
their pet birds to Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation
Department's animal management centers for disposal if they no
longer want to keep pet birds."
(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2007)