Travellers quarantined in a Hong Kong hotel for a week after a Mexican guest tested positive for the H1N1 flu expressed dismay on Saturday at the tough steps, while an infectious disease expert said the authorities had over-reacted.
Police wearing surgical masks sealed off the Metropark hotel on Friday night after test results on the 25-year-old Mexican man were confirmed, ordering approximately 200 guests and 100 staff to stay in the hotel for the next seven days.
The measures taken by the authorities in Hong Kong underscore the concern here about the new flu and the confirmed case, Asia’s first. Hong Kong was badly hit by the SARS virus in 2003 and has had many episodes of H5N1 bird flu for more than a decade.
A Metro Park Hotel was the used by Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Church of Hong Kong) to house a number of Americans invited to attend the installation of The Most Rev. Paul Kwong. But as I recall, it was the Causeway Bay location … not the location involved.
While the best interest of the public is at heart … quarantine can be both frightening and frustrating when one is among those confined.