8 Oct 2010
The Government has amended the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 599) to delete Swine Influenza from the list of statutorily notifiable infectious diseases, a spokesman for the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health said today (October 8).
The opportunity was also taken to remove human swine influenza (HSI) virus type A (subtype H1) from the list of infectious agents in Schedule 2 to the Ordinance, which required the owner or the person in charge of a laboratory to notify the Director of Health immediately in case of a leakage of any scheduled infectious agent in the laboratory that may pose a public health risk.
An amendment notice to the above effect was gazetted today for commencement on the same day.
Hong Kong has lowered its response level under the Framework of Government's Preparedness Plan for Influenza Pandemic from “Emergency” to “Alert” level from May 24, 2010.
The World Health Organization announced on August 10, 2010 that the world was no longer in Phase Six of influenza pandemic alert and was moving into the post-pandemic period.
“Recent influenza surveillance data show that the overall influenza activity in Hong Kong has decreased compared with the past few weeks and the HSI virus is no longer the dominant influenza strain," the spokesman said.
“Based on experience with past pandemics, the HSI virus is expected to take on the behaviour of a seasonal influenza virus and continue to circulate in the community for some years to come. We therefore consider it no longer necessary for HSI to be included as one of the infectious diseases statutorily notifiable by medical practitioners.”
Letters have been sent to all medical practitioners and laboratories to inform them about the legislative amendment.