Tourists, Staff Sealed In Hong Kong Hotel

Quarantine Erected To Prevent Outbreak After Swine Flu Confirmed In Mexican Tourist; China Halts Mexico Flights

(AP)  Hong Kong sealed a downtown hotel with hundreds of tourists and employees inside as authorities worked Saturday to prevent an outbreak of swine flu, searching for anyone who had contact with a Mexican tourist who brought the virus into the territory.

The swift and vigorous action was an indication that officials are eager to prove they have learned from the deadly spread of SARS in 2003, when they were criticized for imposing quarantine measures too slowly.

With the disease on its doorstep, mainland China suspended all direct flights from Mexico, the virus's epicenter, and was checking and holding in quarantine other travelers on the same flight as the 25-year-old Mexican who became Asia's first confirmed case of the virus late Friday. He landed first in Shanghai before continuing on to Hong Kong.

In Beijing, the vice director of Ditan hospital, Chen Jun, said 15 people from the flight were at the hospital for observation but had not shown any symptoms of influenza. Five were Mexican and the rest Chinese. In addition, one passenger each who went to Jiangsu and Hebei provinces have been placed in quarantine, he said.

China was looking for 15 people in Shanghai and 11 people in southern Guangdong province who were also on the plane.

Officials in Taiwan and Hong Kong were looking for other passengers and others who may have come into contact with the man, including his taxi drivers. Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said the government has already tracked down 19 people who sat near the Mexican on the plane and isolated them.

South Korea, meanwhile, reported the continent's second confirmed case in a woman who has been under quarantine since earlier this week when she returned from Mexico.

Sixteen people in the Latin American country and one toddler in the U.S. are confirmed to have died from the disease. More than 650 cases have been confirmed worldwide, with 397 in Mexico. Canada, Israel, New Zealand and more than a half-dozen European countries also have confirmed cases.

Though U.S. officials have already begun to express hope the epidemic may fizzle, authorities took no chances in Hong Kong. Experts fear the disease will be more difficult to contain if it begins to spread through Asia's densely populated countries.

Health workers in white bodysuits patrolled the lobby of the Metropark Hotel in Hong Kong on Saturday as guests picked up bottles of water, chocolate milk and bread before returning to their rooms by elevator. About a dozen police officers wearing masks guarded the building, which was cordoned off.

Chow said the territory was facing "a critical moment."

An Australian tourist who spent the night with friends in a Hong Kong suburb returned to the hotel Saturday morning to join the quarantine.

James Parer, 38, told reporters as he entered the building that he was not worried because the territory could draw on experience from its battle with SARS, or severe acute respiratory disease.

"Hong Kong is the best place this could happen because it should be best prepared," said Parer, who was visiting Hong Kong from Brisbane to attend a trade fair.

During the SARS outbreak, an infected doctor who checked into a Hong Kong hotel later died, but not before infecting a resident of the Chinese territory and 16 other hotel guests. Those guests spread the virus internationally, and it eventually killed more than 770 people, including 299 in Hong Kong.

But a Hong Kong infectious diseases specialist criticized the quarantine as a political move that served little purpose because it only locked down a small group of people and scared away tourists.

"This is only one point in his journey. And it's not the highest risk point in his journey. Flu spreads through coughs or sneezes at close range. People who lived above and below him are nearly not at risk at all," Lo Wing-lok said.

Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang defended his decision, saying: "I'd rather err on the side of caution than miss the opportunity to contain the disease."

A World Health Organization spokesman stopped short of a wholesale endorsement of the move but indicated the U.N. agency was pleased.

"We don't have a policy on quarantining hotels in situations like this, but we like governments to be as sure as they can that they're controlling the situation rather than missing opportunities. So in that context, we're happy with what Hong Kong has done," Peter Cordingley said.

(A couple waves from their room at Hong Kong's Metro Park Hotel on Friday.)

Another Hong Kong infectious diseases expert, John Simon, echoed others who said the territory was a special case. "We're more unique than most cities in the world because of our population density," he said.

Reporters swarmed around the Metropark, in the city's Wan Chai bar and office district, pressing pieces of paper with their phone numbers against the lobby's window. Photos that ran in Hong Kong newspapers Saturday showed one masked guest flashing a handwritten sign to journalists that said, "We will exchange information for beer and food and cigarettes."

Officials have conducted medical checkups on about 200 of the guests and staff holed up at the Metropark. Sixty people who had mild symptoms were taken to hospitals for follow-ups, Thomas Tsang, controller of Hong Kong's Center of Health Protection, was quoted as saying on radio RTHK's Web site Saturday.

Twelve guests who didn't want to stay at the hotel were moved to a suburban holiday camp. The quarantine will last seven days at both locations.

Kevin Ireland, a Metropark guest visiting from India on a business trip, said some guests appeared anxious and others were just bored.

"I'm not worried, but there are some people who are really panicked," Ireland, 45, told The Associated Press by phone from within the hotel. "We don't have any books to read. It's boring, but what can one do?"

The Mexican patient, who was not identified, arrived in Shanghai on AeroMexico flight AM 98 and continued on to Hong Kong on China Eastern Airlines flight MU 505. He developed a fever after arriving in the territory Thursday afternoon and is now in stable condition and isolated at a hospital.

In New Zealand, the first country in the Asia-Pacific region with confirmed cases, the tally remained at four Saturday, Health Minister Tony Ryall told reporters.

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2009 H1N1 Flu Outbreak Map:
This is a map depicting confirmed and suspected cases of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, with contributors from all over the world, from a variety of backgrounds including health, journalism, technology.

[wcreader]

Some has said "it is Better to be Safe Than Sorry later". I totally agree with this. To save life, to save citizen's life from all nations, I think action from the Hong Kong SAR and the Chinese government are doing the right thing. They are trying their best to prevent the deadly flu from spread out any further. There is no evident that the Hong Kong nor the Chinese government were targeting Mexican only, indeed, they are tracking down and quarantine anyone, foreigner and Chinese citizen inlcuded whom may potentially been exposed to the deadly flu. I think what they did are the probably the possible actions for all country to follow if we really want to stop the flu from taking more life.

[searingtruth]

"The prick upon my finger, suffering such often occurrence, became subtle assurance that all was well."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[Ordflyer]

While I think we all need the practice, more people died on U.S. Freways this week than the people that died from Swine Flu WORLDWIDE (THAT"S RIGHT I SAID SWINE).

This is great practice for the big one though.....

[kbbpll]

I'm already practicing social distancing. You people smell funny.

[searingtruth]

Fellow citizens,

My one year old niece is ill and is now being tested for H1N1 a day after my aunt's probable infection was sent in for testing. To protect their privacy I can only say that they live in San Joaquin County.

And yet today San Joaquin County is listed as having only one "probable" case, even though there are articles about a 31 year old female from Tracy being a probable case, and an elementary school in Linden being shut down because a student has a probable case. And no, my aunt and niece live in neither of these cities.

So now with this personal experience, It appears that the CDC is either purposely lying about infections, or at least to slow or negligent to report them accurately. The most logical answer is that they are trying to prevent panic, and are therefore releasing information as slowly as possible. However, I have no proof of this, just a concern that multiple probable cases are not being reported accurately.

My friends, over the last few weeks some have claimed me to be overreacting, or seeking to induce panic, but I am not. I am merely trying to save lives, so let me reiterate the problem we face.

First of all, some have been comforted by reports that the current virus is not as deadly, at least in the US, as the Spanish flu virus. And this is indeed good news.

However, most people don't know the history of the Spanish flue pandemic. The 1918 pandemic "Spanish flu" virus appeared twice. First towards the end of the flu season as the current virus has, and it was similarly contagious, but produced relatively mild illness as does the virus we are experiencing today.

However, it then reappeared at the beginning of the next flu season in a mutated version that had an extremely high mortality rate, and killed approximately 50 million people worldwide.

That is why we must eradicate this virus in its infancy, so it cannot continue to circulate and mutate.

For we allow it to persist at our own peril.

So please call your Governors today and demand immediate social distancing, which is the only way to stop the spread of asymptomatic contagion. If we had done this when I first raised the alarm, I'm sure that many of the cases we are now seeing would not have occurred.
ST


"Fellow citizens,

Even before the first unfortunate death occurred in this pandemic, I felt it was critical that as many as possible call their Governors and demand the immediate imposition of social distancing, which means the temporary closing of all our borders, schools, non-essential businesses and public transportation, and a request that as many as possible stay in their homes. While this is indeed an extreme response, I believe the following information will convince you to agree, and call your Governors and demand that the spread of this virus be minimized.

So first of all, let's look at why I believe this virus, which while called the swine flu is actually a combination of swine, avian, and human influenza, is likely to spread to unacceptable levels without prophylactic (this means before infection is detected) social distancing.

If you go to "http://www.lanl.gov/news/images/avianflu.shtml" you can view three successive pictures of the Los Alamos supercomputer Pinks simulations of the spread of an airborne avian virus over 130 days, introduced by only 10 infected persons in LA, without prophylactic social distancing. These pictures represent the optimum outcome if we use travel restrictions, anti-viral drugs like Tamiflu, and limited social distancing after the detection of infection. The second picture (90 days) shows the best we can hope for.

The link at the bottom has a Quicktime video link to what we can expect with no action at all. If you can't view Quicktime then you can view the same video at "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htnh7pBBtrM"

For an explanation of the death pattern of this virus, you can read the article at "http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011701113.html" for the University of Wisconsin's Spanish Flu study.

This article explains what can best be characterized as "Immune System Shock" where mature immune systems attack our bodies as much or more than the virus, and why young and old immune systems, because of their inefficient response, attack with less efficiency.

Fellow citizens, I don't want to panic anyone, I simply want you to know the truth we face, in hopes you'll contact your Governors so later panic will not be necessary.

My greatest hope is that you, and all those you love, never suffer, and never die such a horrific and needless death."
SearingTruth, April 24, 2009

A Future of the Brave

[carolhill814]

I am already sick to my stomach just thinking about this nothing like being in prison.

It just seems that all of this is little over the top and that is a fact.

[denmar9999]

From the Chinese Government News 13 people on the flight the Mexican took from Shanghai to Hongkong have developed a fever but not yet confirmed with swine flu.
For the 300 people in the hotel 45 are feeling uncomfortable.( that is open to your interpretation)
The 2 taxi drivers have not yet been located.
This was a Chinese web site www.news.136.com( this in in Chinese)
Dennis

[Libertarian1776]

ayatoldya,
You forgot about the importance of the coat hangers with the tin foil hats.
They will NOT work with coat hangers.

[Libertarian1776]

I think the Virus was made in a lab using recombinant DNA.
No way that a Pig virus, Bird Virus and Human virus, could have a night out on the town.
This is all about the One World ELITES testing how much power wimps are willing to give up.
We are ALL slaves on this Planet to the rich Power hungry Elite.
Obama is a rich elite too!

[johnb8888]

"mainland China suspended all direct flights from Mexico,"


While the corrupt and incompetent U.S. and Mexican governments continue to let hundreds of thousands swarm unchecked across the border, not even a customs agent looking to see if they have a fever.

Why--so your tomatoes can be a few cents cheaper and so rich industrialists and agribusiness can make a lot more money.

If your child dies of swine flu--ask the governments of both countries why they couldn't be bothered to enforce the law.

[ayatoldya]

Time to get out that plastic sheeting and duct tape our of storage and make a safe room. If you must go outside, wrap yourself in several layers of plastic wrap and DO NOT Forget to wear a hat made from aluminum foil to keep the establishment from planting fear and panic into your brain.

[grabandgo]

Good for China. The United States should follow China's lead....
Posted by the_sir_mr at 7:55 AM : May 2, 2009

The US is too greedy to stop, they already admitted that.

[pete_in_az]

I'm confused. First it was Swine Flu, then it was a more Cargill friendly H1N1 Flu, and now it is back to Swine Flue with a huge pink pig picture, more clearly drawing some ASSociation between eating pork and the Flu.

What happened, CBS couldn't ink a deal with the pork council to supress the name?