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HK gov't considers to set up new health risk mechanism for travelers

Xinhua, June 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hong Kong's Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man on Tuesday said the government will consider implementing a new mechanism to notify travelers of health risks.

Ko told the media Tuesday that the Food and Health Bureau has maintained close contact with the Security Bureau on the issue of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in South Korea.

He said the issuing of the red Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) will help travelers who have purchased flight tickets or made hotel bookings to adjust their travel plans.

Speaking on Hong Kong's MERS precautions, Ko said the government has classified all inbound travelers from South Korea with respiratory symptoms as suspected MERS cases, since raising its responsiveness level for the disease to "serious" on Monday.

More than 10 patients have been sent to hospital for check-ups since then, he added.

The Hong Kong government issued this morning a red OTA on South Korea in light of an outbreak of the MERS. Under the three-color OTA system, black is the highest alert, red the middle and amber the lowest. Endi