H.K. slams Guangdong Prov. for late report of SARS case

Asian Economic News, Feb 17, 2004

HONG KONG, Feb. 9 Kyodo

Hong Kong slammed neighboring Guangdong Province on Monday for keeping the former British colony in the dark about its fourth case of SARS last month.

Local officials revealed the Guangdong provincial authorities even denied it had a suspected SARS case when they sent the patient's sample to Hong Kong for further testing.

On Sunday, a senior Guangdong provincial official rejected there was an avian influenza outbreak in the province's Chaoan County, despite the fact it had been confirmed by the central government, and threatened to take legal action against the Hong Kong media over their bird flu reports.

These moves by Guangdong officials refreshed Hong Kong people's disgruntlement over the province's failure to immediately alert others to the danger of its SARS epidemic last year.

China drew international criticism for reportedly trying to cover up the outbreak of the highly contagious disease last year, which snowballed into a global health crisis as it spread to Hong Kong and across other parts of the world. Nearly 300 of 1,755 SARS patients in Hong Kong died.

Speaking at a panel meeting of the legislature Monday, Hong Kong Deputy Director of Health Regina Ching said the government has expressed its dissatisfaction to Chinese authorities and demanded to be informed at once when there is a suspected SARS case.

''We were dissatisfied that we could not obtain the most accurate information as soon as possible to assist in our diagnosis,'' Ching said.

China announced its fourth SARS case in Guangdong Province on Jan. 31, after the patient had already been discharged from hospital.

Despite the fact Guangzhou health experts diagnosed the patient as a suspected SARS case Jan. 24, Hong Kong was not informed of the situation when the Guangdong authorities sent the patient's sample for testing Jan. 27.

Guangdong authorities claimed the sample belonged to a pneumonia patient when asked by Hong Kong at the time, Ching said.

Lawmaker Andrew Cheng of the Democratic Party urged the Hong Kong government to be tough with Guangdong Province. ''It seems to us that such a problem happened over and over again,'' Cheng said. ''I hope you will not yield to politics and consider that you should not challenge any possible cover-up or mistake in the mainland.''

Zhong Yangsheng, executive vice governor of Guangdong, denied Sunday there was a bird flu outbreak in Chaoan County. ''According to whom is there an outbreak in Chaoan? The chickens could have died from car accidents or could have died from food poisoning,'' Zhong told reporters.

''Many farmers use excessive insect killers in their fields,'' he said, according to television news footage in Hong Kong.

The Guangdong official also warned the media not to report any information without confirmation. ''There are some media which report on hearsay and this is against the law. We could take legal action against them according to our laws.''

''I hope the media, including those from Hong Kong, observe the laws and don't report (bird flu cases) unless they are confirmed,'' he said.

The Hong Kong Journalists' Association criticized Zhong for trying to threaten both mainland and Hong Kong reporters and putting pressure on their news coverage.