Medical practitioners in Hong Kong must notify the government of anyone suspected to have been infected with the mystery Wuhan pneumonia under a change expected to be in place this week which also gives the authorities the power to place patients under mandatory quarantine. The Food and Health Bureau’s announcement late on Monday night came as medical experts called on the government to step up health checks at the city’s border and make visitors from Wuhan, which has been hit by a pneumonia outbreak, fill out a declaration form. The bureau said amendments to the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance were “in full swing” to include “severe respiratory disease associated with a novel infectious agent” as a statutory notifiable infectious disease. It is expected to be gazetted within this week. Once gazetted, medical practitioners who suspect a patient has the disease must notify the government. It is understood that the government would then have the power to order the patient be placed under quarantine. This cannot done at present because the unidentified Wuhan pneumonia, which does not even have an official name yet, is not listed in the ordinance. The bureau’s move came as Hong Kong’s public hospitals, in the 24 hours to noon on Monday, admitted six more patients who had been to the city in Hubei province in the past 14 days and presented with fever, respiratory infection or pneumonia symptoms — though they have not been confirmed as cases of the disease. Aged two to 65, they were all in stable condition and had not visited wet markets in Wuhan. That brings the total number of cases in Hong Kong to 21, though seven patients have already been discharged. A seafood market in Wuhan is believed to be the source of the outbreak. While there have been 59 cases in Wuhan, there are no confirmed cases outside the mainland city or any evidence to suggest human-to-human infection. Civic Party lawmaker Dr Kwok Ka-ki, a urologist, said local health officers should board trains from Wuhan – a city of 11 million people about a four-hour journey from Hong Kong – at the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminal and check passengers’ body temperatures before allowing them to enter the city. “Officers should spend 20 to 30 minutes to board trains, check body temperatures and ask passengers to fill out health declaration forms,” he said. “It can’t be voluntary — it won’t work and is meaningless.” The government has arranged thermal imaging systems at both the rail terminal and the airport to conduct mass checks of visitors’ body temperature as they walk past. At the rail terminal, there is also a special voluntary lane where travellers from Wuhan can stop for checks using handheld infrared thermometers. But a recent Post check saw no one using the lane. Kwok said that making it mandatory for Wuhan visitors to fill out a health declaration form with their contact details, which is not required currently, would allow the government to track them down better. A problem with using thermal imaging systems, rather than individual temperature checks, was that someone with fever could be missed if health officers were distracted for even a moment, Kwok added. Dr Arisina Ma Chung-yee, president of the Hong Kong Public Doctors’ Association, said the government had so far taken a passive approach at the border and agreed that a health declaration form was a must. “I hope the Hong Kong government will be allowed to send people to Wuhan to gather more information about the disease. I hope the mainland can be as transparent as Hong Kong,” she added. If the outbreak in Wuhan becomes serious, there are international standards to follow in banning Wuhan residents from visiting Hong Kong, Ma said. Wuhan virus not Sars, says China as more struck down by mystery bug She accused the government of not spending enough money on advertisements to raise public awareness of the disease. Meanwhile, the Hospital Authority confirmed that Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai had on Sunday admitted a woman who claimed she had fever symptoms after recently visiting Wuhan. The patient asked to be discharged that day and was allowed to leave, after the hospital found no symptoms. There was a similar case involving a 20-year-old Chinese University student who first sought treatment at the private Union Hospital, but decided to go elsewhere after she was told she should be quarantined at a public hospital. Experts said the two patients could not be placed in mandatory quarantine because of a legal loophole where the government could only place patients in mandatory quarantine if the Wuhan pneumonia was listed under the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance. Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a Chinese University respiratory medicine expert, said it was a problem that not much was known about the Wuhan pneumonia. What the government could do was require visitors from Wuhan to declare their health status and step up checks at the border, he added. In a written reply, the Department of Health said that additional thermal imaging systems were in place at the airport and extra manpower assigned at the West Kowloon railway station to enhance temperature screening of travellers. “Inbound travellers with relevant symptoms and travel history identified will be immediately referred to public hospitals for isolation, treatment and follow-up,” the department said. It said it had also advised the MTR Corporation, the Airport Authority and airlines to enhance cleaning and disinfection measures for trains and flights coming from Wuhan.