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Passengers wearing masks to prevent contracting Mers walk past a thermal imaging camera. Photo: Reuters

Hong Kong to scrutinise passengers from Seoul for Mers

Hong Kong left with little option as South Korea fails to cooperate; patient 'stable' as authorities track those he came into contact with

Mers virus

Hong Kong health authorities will step up surveillance on visitors arriving from Seoul with flu-like symptoms after their South Korean counterparts failed to release a list of facilities where Middle East respiratory syndrome patients are being treated.

Centre for Health Protection Controller Dr Leung Ting-hung said yesterday if travellers from Seoul showed any symptoms such as fever, they would be treated as suspicious cases and tested for the deadly virus.

He said this was in line with arrangement for travellers coming into Hong Kong from the Middle East. The decision to step up monitoring was also due to the rising Mers caseload in Seoul.

"If we know the name of these medical institutions then we can tell Hongkongers to avoid these places," Leung said. Incoming travellers could be asked to declare whether they had visited any of the institutions recently. Leung said health officials had repeatedly asked South Korean authorities for such information, but to no avail.

Centre for Health Protection Controller Dr Leung Ting-hung said yesterday if travellers from Seoul showed any symptoms such as fever, they would be treated as suspicious cases and tested for the deadly virus. Photo: Edward Wong
Without such a list, there was no option but to step up surveillance on travellers from Seoul.

Leung's announcement came after the condition of China's first confirmed Mers patient improved to stable.

The patient, a 44-year-old Korean man, ignored doctors' advice to stay home and flew from Seoul to Hong Kong last Tuesday with the deadly virus. He then travelled to Huizhou , on the mainland, on a coach.

Guangdong health authorities said 77 people had been in close contact with the patient during his time on the mainland. Among them, 67 have been quarantined, while 10 passengers who travelled on the same coach have not yet been tracked down.

Deputy Guangdong governor Deng Haiguang chaired a conference in which provincial health experts said the risk of a large-scale local outbreak caused by the Korean patient was "extremely low".

Another traveller who had been in close contact with the Korean patient was stopped at the Hong Kong airport yesterday.

The man, 32, also from South Korea, is one of 29 people who sat within two rows of the patient on the Hong Kong-bound Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul.

After arriving in Hong Kong the man had entered the mainland through the Lok Ma Chau border. From Guangzhou he flew back to South Korea three days later and then returned to Hong Kong, where he was intercepted by immigration at Chek Lap Kok.

Leung said the man was in isolation and showed no symptoms, so any passengers who had sat near him should be safe.

Of the 29 people seated near the patient on the Asiana flight, 18 have been put under mandatory quarantine at Lady MacLehose Holiday Village in Sai Kung. Health secretary Ko Wing-man said none had shown symptoms.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Park Geun-hye scolded health officials for their "insufficient" response to the outbreak.

A 58-year-old woman who had contact with the patient but was not tested for Mers had since died of respiratory failure, a South Korean health ministry official said. Tests were being conducted to verify cause of death.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Arrivals from Seoul to face scrutiny for Mers
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