Department of Health
The Department of Health is the Government's health adviser and agency to execute healthcare policies and statutory functions. It safeguards the health of the community through promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services.
The Department of Health said today there is no medical basis to impose entry restrictions on Japanese passengers, but it is monitoring the situation and will advise of any changes.
A health desk at the Chek Lap Kok Airport provides service to travellers from Japan who volunteer for radiation checks. In the 24 hours up to noon today, 58 passengers had done the test and no contaminated case had been identified.
The World Health Organisation believes only those involved in the emergency response near the Fukushima nuclear power plant remain in an area where there are higher levels of radioactivity. For their own safety, they should undergo decontamination when they leave the site.
Travellers from the 20km evacuation zone who have undergone decontamination, and all travellers from other areas, do not pose a radioactive health risk to others. They do not require entry checks.
The department has been liaising with the Mainland’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection & Quarantine and its provincial China Inspection & Quarantines since the beginning of the Japanese incident.
Neither the Mainland nor any port health authority around the world has mandated entry radiation checks on international passengers arriving from Japan. It is also in accordance with the latest advice issued by the International Civil Aviation Organisation on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency, International Maritime Organisation, the World Health Organisation and the World Meteorological Organisation, about the continued safety of air-transport operations in Japan.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation has also confirmed there is no health risk associated with increased levels of radiation detected at some airports.
