Hong Kong Reports 2nd Swine Flu Case; Patient Flew

Hong Kong Reports 2nd Swine Flu Case; Patient Flew in From U.S.
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By Sophie Leung

May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong confirmed its second case of swine flu, in a 24-year-old local resident who returned on a flight from San Francisco May 11, Gabriel Leung, undersecretary for food and health, said.

The man reported to a clinic at Hong Kong Airport when he arrived and was immediately taken to Princess Margaret hospital in Kowloon, where he is in a stable condition, Tsang told reporters today. Hong Kong health authorities have quarantined six of 51 people who sat near him on the plane, and the other 45 have already left the city, Tsang said. The patient’s family has also been quarantined, Tsang said.

Hong Kong on May 8 released 286 people quarantined for a week in a downtown hotel that was the site of the city’s first swine flu case and another 65 who were sequestered at a holiday village and a hospital. While the government defended its decision to take strong steps until it knew more about the virus, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow told legislators today that only people who had close contact to confirmed swine flu patients will be quarantined.

Hong Kong imposed the May 1 quarantine after a man who flew in from Mexico via Shanghai was confirmed as the city’s first confirmed swine flu case.

Authorities acted to prevent a broader outbreak of the H1N1 virus, taking a tough line after the experience of dealing with the first human infections from bird flu in 1997 and the 2003 severe acute respiratory symptom (SARS) epidemic, which killed 299 people in the city.

The patient returned from San Francisco on Cathay Pacific Airways Flight 879//AA6079.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sophie Leung in Hong Kong at sleung59@bloomberg.net