Hong Kong government implements three-tier alert system for Zika virus, and places city at lowest level
World Health Organisation informs administration about second Zika patient who passed through Hong Kong in December
A newly devised response system for the Zika virus was activated by the government on Friday as Hong Kong was notified that a second person travelling through the city had contracted the virus.
The government activated the lowest of the three-level system, the alert level. The second level is serious while the highest is emergency.
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The Department of Health’s Centre for Health Protection said the system made it clear what measures needed to be taken at each level.
“Relevant government bureaux [or] departments and organisations will perform prevention and control measures based on the plan, step up vector control and provide specific advice to persons in reproductive age groups,” a department spokesman said.
The system was introduced on the same day that the World Health Organisation reported a second Zika case to the Hong Kong government.
The patient travelled to Vietnam from December 9 to 21 last year and then to Hong Kong until December 23. He returned to Israel later and developed a fever and a headache on December 25.
The first case involved a mainland man who tested positive for Zika when he returned home after spending two days in the city last month.