Hong Kong relaxes swine flu measures as virus takes its 21st victim

Sep 28, 2009, 4:20 GMT

   Hong Kong - Hong Kong on Monday began relaxing its measures against swine flu as the disease took its 21st victim.

   The number of new infections will no longer be reported in daily updates and tests to confirm the virus will only be carried out in serious cases, pregnant women, babies under 12 months and health care workers.

   The change in strategy comes one week after the head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, advised Hong Kong to focus on reducing the number of serious cases rather than containing the spread.

   The city of 7 million has seen 26,500 cases of swine flu, of which 106 have been classified as serious.

   A 66-year-old man with diabetes and a heart condition became the 21st swine flu victim Sunday.

   However, the real number of cases is believed to 20 times higher at an estimated half a million.

   A Department of Health spokesman said H1N1 was now the predominant flu virus and was believed to be responsible for more than 80 per cent of all flu-like illnesses.

   'Over 60 per cent of patients with influenza-like illnesses attending designated flu clinics are tested positive to human swine flu,' the spokesman said.

   'At this stage of the swine flu pandemic, the number of laboratory-confirmed cases is no longer a useful surveillance indicator.'

   Dr Thomas Tsang, of the Centre for Health Protection, said they were not relaxing measures against the virus but changing their strategy.

   He warned that a second wave of swine flu might hit Hong Kong early next year but added that a vaccine should be ready by that time.

   The densely-populated former British colony is particularly sensitive to virus outbreaks after the severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS outbreak killed 299 people and infected around 1,800 in 2003.