2009 Flu Pandemic in Hong Kong - Initial Response

Initial Response

Following news of the flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States, on 26 April, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow announced that Hong Kong had raised its influenza pandemic alertness level to "serious", out of three possible alertness levels: alert, serious, and emergency. Hong Kong also became one of the first jurisdictions to declare swine flu as a notifiable disease, and much of the procedures against the spread of the swine flu were learned from the 2003 SARS outbreak, of which Hong Kong was the epicenter of the outbreak. Chow advised Hong Kong residents to avoid travelling to cities facing an outbreak of the flu, and stated that swine flu has been added to the list of notifiable disease, which required cases of the flu to be reported to the government. Residents were also advised to take precautionary measures against infection if travel to affected areas was necessary. Surveillance measures at boundary control points were boosted to detect travellers with fever and respiratory symptoms, and travellers who were suspected of being infected would be quarantined and monitored.