The Department of Health has advised people to avoid non-essential travel to South Korea, as it raises the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome response level from 'alert' to 'serious'.
Secretary for Food & Health Dr Ko Wing-man made the announcement during a press briefing this afternoon, noting that the decision was made due to a significant increase in tertiary transmission cases in Korea and because there was "close and frequent personnel exchange" between the two places.
Dr Ko stressed that so far, there was no evidence of a community outbreak in Korea and there was no virological evidence to show the virus had mutated into a form that could be transmitted from human-to-human efficiently.
Centre for Health Protection Controller Dr Leung Ting-hung revealed among the 87 MERS cases confirmed by Korean health authorities, more than 60% involved tertiary transmission.
Director of Health Dr Constance Chan meanwhile noted that an average of about 5,000 people travel to Korea and some 5,000 travellers return from the country daily, so it is necessary for Hong Kong to adopt more stringent measures to prevent the introduction of MERS to the city.
Hospital Authority Chief Executive Leung Pak-yin announced that from tomorrow, public hospital visiting hours will be reduced from four to two hours, and patients and staff will be required to wear a mask in clinical areas.
Dr Ko also stressed that the health advisory issued today was similar to a red outbound travel alert, while urging travellers who must visit Korea to wear a face mask and be mindful of their hand hygiene.
