During the summer of 2025, the global Chikungunya outbreak continues to expand, with reported travel-related cases on the southeast coast of the People’s Republic of China.
China’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) announced today that an outbreak of the mosquito-transmitted Chikungunya fever (CF) has occurred in Shunde, Guangdong, which began in July 2025 and was triggered by imported cases.
As of July 15, a total of 478 confirmed cases have been reported, all of which exhibited mild symptoms.
According to the information provided by Guangdong Province, the current CF outbreak mainly occurred in the towns of Lecong, Beijiao, and Chencun in Shunde, which are not popular tourist destinations for Hong Kong citizens.
While no confirmed cases of CF have been reported in Hong Kong so far this year, the risk of imported cases has increased due to frequent travel between Guangdong and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is a favorite destination for international travelers, welcoming over 40 million visitors in 2024.
Between 2016 and 2019, the number of imported CF cases recorded in Hong Kong ranged from one to 11 each year. There have been no CF cases in Hong Kong since 2020.
The CHP is closely monitoring the trend of CF in neighboring areas.
Off China’s east coast, Taiwan has reported Chikungunya cases in 2025.
As of July 16, 2025, Chikungunya vaccines were unavailable in China; however, they have become commercially available in various countries, such as the United States. Since Chikungunya is a vaccine-preventable disease, health agencies recommend vaccination before visiting Chikungunya outbreaks.
