Medic defends the investigation he led into how virus spread at Amoy Gardens
A Hong Kong government doctor who was responsible for investigating whether rats spread Sars said yesterday his team had done its best and it would be 'very unfair' to say it not been thorough enough.
'We were never told to halt the investigation. Instead, we were asked to do more tests, not [fewer],' the doctor said.
'[None of] the tests could establish any Sars infections in rats. Our conclusion is rats are only mechanical carriers of the Sars virus. It means they do not actively transmit [it]. They could have been contaminated with the virus in the environment,' the doctor said.
Another doctor, epidemiologist Stephen Ng Kam-cheung, will tell the Legislative Council's Sars inquiry panel today that health officials conducted an incomplete investigation into the role of rats in transmitting Sars for fear any proof the rodents spread the virus could cause panic and harm the economy.
Dr Ng alleges Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong told senior officials at a meeting on April 5 that if no more tests on rats were conducted, the public would have no grounds to blame the government for hiding any facts.
Dr Ng also claims a senior health official objected to Dr Yeoh's decision to halt the investigation of rats.