Hong Kong Hospitalizes Seven More People Who Went to Wuhan
The patients, aged between two and 55, all visited Wuhan in the past 14 days and display fever
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong public hospitals admitted seven more people with flu-like symptoms who had recently traveled to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, bringing the total number of reported cases in the city to 15 since the end of last month.
The patients, aged between two and 55, all visited Wuhan in the past 14 days and display fever, respiratory infection or pneumonia symptoms, the Hospital Authority said in a statement Sunday. All are being kept in isolation, according to the statement.
The government on Saturday classified its response level to the outbreak as “serious” -- the second-highest scale of action in its three-tier system, with the top being emergency, according to a statement from the Department of Health. The current classification estimates the immediate health impact on the local population to be moderate.
As of Sunday, 59 people have been diagnosed with pneumonia in Wuhan, while the cause is still unknown. Seven of them are in a serious condition. The mysterious lung infection is being monitored by the World Health Organization, which said it’s in active communication with its counterparts in China, where an investigation is underway to determine the cause.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome have been excluded as the cause of the pneumonia cases found in Wuhan, the municipal health commission said Sunday.
Some of those infected worked at a fresh seafood and produce market in Wuhan, which sold birds, pheasants and snakes, along with organs of rabbits and other wildlife, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy said Thursday, citing media reports.
None of the latest seven people hospitalized in Hong Kong had visited a wet market in Wuhan, according to the Hospital Authority statement.
--With assistance from Agnieszka de Sousa and Penny Peng.
To contact the reporter on this story: Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at kchan14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net, Stanley James, Cecile Vannucci
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