Hong Kong authorities should step up preventive measures and issue a travel alert to warn residents against visiting parts of central Africa as an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda threatens to worsen, an infectious disease expert has said.
Dr Joseph Tsang Kay-yan, a council member of the Hong Kong Society of Infectious Diseases, stressed on Monday the need for Hong Kong to step up preventive measures, especially in checkpoint monitoring, in light of the frequent business exchanges between some mainland Chinese cities and central Africa.
“There needs to be a clear travel health alert not to head to Congo and the affected countries unless absolutely necessary,” Tsang told a radio programme, referring to the government’s three-tier outbound travel alert system that warns travellers of potential personal safety threats.
There should be signs informing inbound visitors to Hong Kong about the outbreak and notices telling them to report to authorities if they displayed any symptoms or had interactions with potentially infected people from the affected countries, or with those who had travelled there, he added.
“There have only been three outbreaks of Bundibugyo virus recorded, all of which caused haemorrhages … We will still need to observe its characteristics, but I believe the actual number of patients hasn’t yet been reflected in reports or the news,” Tsang said.
He noted that the outbreak had already spread to highly populated areas and business centres with high levels of movement, and the situation could worsen in the next two to three weeks.
