Hong Kong reports new imported chikungunya fever case, bringing tally to 5
Health authorities said the latest confirmed case involved a 66-year-old woman with a chronic illness who lived in Kwai Tsing district.
A preliminary investigation by the Centre for Health Protection found that the woman travelled alone to visit relatives in Foshan, Guangdong province, from July 24 to Tuesday this week.
The patient could not recall being bitten by a mosquito, the centre said.
The woman developed a fever, rash and joint pain on Wednesday and went to see the doctor at Yan Chai Hospital in Tsuen Wan the next day. Her blood test results came back positive for the chikungunya virus.
The centre said the woman's condition was stable.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Did Chinese authorities take a page from the Covid-19 playbook for chikungunya?
When a drone's camera picked up water buckets and potted plants on the balcony of a four-storey village house in Foshan – the city in Guangdong province at the centre of southern China's chikungunya outbreak – local authorities acted quickly. An official visited the house but was denied entry, prompting the village's Communist Party secretary to lead a task force to the building, knocking and shouting at the front door until the residents finally came downstairs. According to an article on the Nanhai district government's official WeChat account on July 26, the team explained the hazards of breeding mosquitoes, the potential consequences of the disease, as well as the laws and regulations on pandemic prevention. On the top floor of the residence, the task force found 'a dozen buckets containing muddy, stagnant water and, upon closer inspection, swarms of wriggling mosquito larvae', the article said. In the battle against the mosquito-borne viral disease, Chinese authorities have turned to a familiar playbook, with some measures – such as quarantine, disinfection of neighbourhoods and real-name registration for fever medicine – recalling the response to Covid-19. Some of the more intrusive measures have sparked concerns and complaints – such as a Beijing News report about a child with a fever whose parents refused to let community workers take a blood sample on August 3.
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
New Hong Kong Hospital Authority chief vows to foster staff ‘speak-up' culture
The new chief of Hong Kong's public hospitals has vowed to foster a 'speak-up' culture among staff as part of efforts to boost patient safety, while expressing hope that one day no one in the organisation will need to be a whistle-blower. Dr Libby Lee Ha-yun, who took office as the Hospital Authority's chief executive at the start of the month, said on Friday that she hoped services would be offered more from the patients' perspective while further considering their opinions. She said fostering a culture of speaking up was part of the work on improving patient safety. 'How to make staff feel comfortable and then trust there is no consequence even if they speak up,' Lee said. She said the change in culture could start from daily meetings, with staff encouraged to speak their minds. 'We have an open and transparent system for discussion, with logical arguments. Sometimes we need to agree to disagree,' she said.
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Fatal crash underscores need for rigorous tests for older taxi drivers
Safety is paramount in all forms of transport, particularly the fitness of drivers. Age alone does not determine that, but safety records can highlight that factor. The increasing number of elderly taxi drivers in Hong Kong and their rising accident rates have long been a concern. A fatal crash involving an 80-year-old driver this week is a case in point. His taxi mounted a hotel taxi rank in Tsuen Wan, killing a 35-year-old tourist from the Philippines. The cabby said he felt dizzy before his vehicle crashed. The accident has sparked renewed debate about the need for rigorous health, vision and hearing tests for older drivers. As the city's population ages, more seniors need to continue working to maintain a living income, including by driving cabs and commercial vehicles. The question they face is how else they would make a living. While many are experienced drivers, there is no defence against impairment of driving abilities through any age-related decline in health. It is recognised that apart from the increased risk of age-related medical incidents, from dizziness to heart attacks, contributing factors in accidents include diminished vision, slower reaction times and hearing loss. Figures on accidents involving elderly taxi drivers show a sharp increase over the past two years. Those aged 70 or above had 651 accidents last year, up by more than 43 per cent compared to 2022. Cabbies in their sixties were involved in 2,021 incidents, a 40 per cent increase. Drivers over 70 applying for or renewing licences must furnish a medical certificate at least once every three years. An expert panel suggested stepping up health checks annually from the age of 65. It is good to hear from the Transport and Logistics Bureau that the government is finalising proposals to tighten requirements. Critics may argue that rigorous testing could unfairly discriminate against capable and fit elderly drivers. In that regard, as the city ages, it is true that people are ageing better, but differently. Every serious accident involving elderly drivers sparks the same debate. The issue has been too easily swept under the carpet. The time has come for action to set guidelines that strike a clearer balance between protecting the public and safeguarding the rights of the elderly.
