Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr York Chow says it is not necessary to require travellers to fill in health-declaration forms at boundary checkpoints, as there is no general outbreak of avian flu in Guangzhou.

Dr Chow said today that more than 300,000 people travel through boundary checkpoints to and from Shenzhen everyday, and implementing health declarations will  hinder passenger flow. He said as there is only one confirmed avian flu case in Guangzhou, it is not appropriate to have mandatory health declarations.

Dr Chow said the Department of Health has already implemented temperature screening for inbound travellers at all immigration control points and enhanced health education for travellers through leaflets and health message displays.

He said private medical practitioners have also been alerted to report suspected avian flu cases, adding swift tests by the Government laboratory will take only several hours while detailed test results will be available within two days.

Enhanced surveillance

Meanwhile, the Hospital Authority will implement a three-week enhanced surveillance programme, as recommended by the Central Committee on Infectious Disease, from March 8.

Public hospitals must report to the authority's e-flu system all patients fulfilling the case definition of having pneumonia of unidentified etiology and travel history to affected areas with confirmed human cases of avian influenza in the past six months, within seven days of the onset of symptoms.

The laboratory network including, Princess Margaret, Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, and Tuen Mun Hospitals, and the Department of Health Public Health Laboratory Centre, will participate in the enhanced surveillance programme to provide rapid avian flu tests. The programme will be reviewed in three weeks time.

All infection control measures under current Yellow Alert are still in effect. The authority will co-operate with the Centre for Health Protection to keep the general public and professionals posted on the latest situation.