Six more Hong Kong patients taken to hospital over Wuhan pneumonia fears as number of cases in city rises to 14

HONG KONG, Jan 5, 2019, SCMP. Six more patients have been identified with fever and respiratory symptoms after returning to Hong Kong from Wuhan, putting the total number of suspected cases in the city at 14. A wet market in the mainland Chinese city was the site of an outbreak of an unidentified form of pneumonia, and mainland authorities said the number of cases across the border had risen to 44, South China Morning Post reported.

In Singapore, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday it had been informed of a suspected case, involving a three-year-old girl from China who had pneumonia and a history of travel to Wuhan.

On Sunday, Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee revealed authorities had been notified about the six patients between noon on Saturday and Sunday morning, and said as far as she knew all six were in a stable condition.

“The [Hong Kong] government has been continuously in close contact with the relevant mainland authorities for the latest updates … people are also reminded not to visit the wet market or eat wild animals when travelling,” she said.

Chan also said the Hong Kong government had taken an active response to the incident, and said she had visited Princess Margaret Hospital on Saturday to inspect isolation wards, and discuss response policies with medical staff.

A source said the six patients, all in stable condition, were four men and two women aged between 22 to 55. They were quarantined and being treated in Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Ruttonjee and Tseung Kwan O hospitals. One of them was confirmed to have the flu.

A new response mechanism for infectious diseases was launched by the Hospital Authority on Saturday, and it was set to a “serious” level, the second level in a three-tier scale.

Doctors are required to report patient cases with fever and acute respiratory symptoms or pneumonia symptoms who had visited Wuhan within 14 days before the onset of the illness, whether or not they had visited any wet markets or seafood markets there.

Wuhan authorities in Central China announced on Friday that 44 people had been admitted to hospital with the unidentified virus, up from 27 on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Cheung