SARS Lessons Must not Be Forgotten

(Kar) Do you remember the deadly SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in early 2003? Do you recall that people were always wearing surgical masks to go out during in SARS? Or do you review the residents of the Estate E of Amoy Gardens Apartment that they were transferred to the quarantined Lei Yue Mun Holiday Camp and Lady MacLehose Holiday Village a decade ago?

I believe many Hongkongers still remember that school closure was around one month during the SARS in 2003. Parents were therefore inconvenient because they needed to arrange someone else to look after their kids. Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised travelers to avoid visiting Hong Kong. It means Hong Kong was isolated. Worse still, people were upset and worried when they learnt the increased figures of the deaths on TV News report. However, we have better doctors, nurses and medical staff as well as workers, who are professional and courageous. They were loyal to their duties faithfully and resolved to combat SARS. In the meantime, the public paid attention to personal hygiene themselves. Housewives cleaned and disinfected contaminated areas and items with 1: 49 diluted household bleach and put it into the drains once a week. The streets and public area were clean swept. Fortunately, the virus disappeared in June, 2003. I think the public still remember that they felt sorrow in those days. The employers of catering do not forget the economic depression during in SARS.

 

Unfortunately, the mainland is now hit by a new strain of the deadly H7N9 bird flu. It has infected 47 people, killing 11. The H7N9 bird flu is spreading in society in Shanghai, Zhejian and Jiangsu, and so on.

 

Saying the new virus may not breakout swiftly and it cannot spread from human to human, but some professionals appealed to the public who must not take the matters lightly because of the high fatality rate.
 

The Government had learnt a painful lesson and should take preventive measures to combat the spread of H7N9 bird flu. It is time to activate the preliminary “Alert Response Level” under a preparedness plan for a flu pandemic.