bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Ella Lee

Starting as early as next week, swine flu patients in Hong Kong will not automatically be sent to hospital for isolation, amid growing complaints from frontline doctors that unnecessary admissions are wasting public resources.
Health officials expect that the number of swine flu cases will double  every three days, and are working with medical experts to project the virus' behaviour.
Hong Kong reported 26 new cases yesterday, bringing the total to 247.  
As of yesterday, more than 170 confirmed swine flu patients and another 130 people who had been in close contact with them  were in isolation wards in public hospitals. None had developed severe complications. 
These patients are under the government's quarantine orders and cannot be discharged until they are found to be no longer infectious. 
Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok  admitted yesterday that sending mild  cases to isolation wards  had  stressed public hospitals.
Since Thursday, the Hospital Authority has  been admitting only confirmed swine flu patients but not suspected cases  or their close contacts. 
A government source revealed yesterday that as Hong Kong proceeds past  containment  to the mitigation phase of the  outbreak, mild  cases would be put under home care, similar to what United States and Australia are doing.
'We are revising the policy and  will make a decision as early as next week. Under home care, patients would be given Tamiflu, and  public-hospital beds would be reserved for severe cases only,' the source said. 
If the outbreak spreads further,  mild cases   will not even be given Tamiflu. The antiviral  will only be used on severely ill patients.
Ho Pak-leung, of the Public Doctors' Association and a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said the government should switch from hospital care to home care as soon as possible.
'There are complaints from frontline doctors that as the virus appears so mild, there is no clinical basis to isolate the patients. The mitigation effect of isolation is diminishing, as the virus is  already rooted in the community,' Professor Ho said.
One frontline doctor said: 'These patients have very mild or even no symptoms; it is a waste of resources to put them in single isolated wards, and this compromises some regular services.'
Meanwhile, the Food and Health Bureau is working with medical experts at the University of Hong Kong to  find an outbreak model for swine flu. 
Patient information and laboratory results are being analysed to project the virus' infectivity and how long the peak will last. Initial findings  are expected in two weeks. 
The government is also closely monitoring  whether the new H1N1 virus  will overtake the seasonal H3N2 flu virus in Hong Kong. In the United States, about 90 per cent of  flu viruses isolated  are swine flu.  
The government source said this 'strain replacement' situation would be one of the key factors in planning  strategies. 
The source said the summer flu peak would be the first wave of the swine flu outbreak, to be followed by a second wave in the winter flu peak. 
'It is a long battle. Hong Kong has to prepare for two waves that will last until next March or April. We have to prepare for the worst.'



Isolation of mild cases to end, easing strain on hospitals