Hong Kong and its bordering Guangdong Province will further strengthen exchange and ties of public health authorities, officials from the two places announced in Hong Kong Friday.

 

Hong Kong Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, York Chow met Friday with a visiting delegation led by Yao Zhibin, director-general of the Health Department of Guangdong Province.

 

Chow said the close ties and heavy visitor flow between the two places heightened the risk of the spread of infectious diseases. Since the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao infectious disease notification mechanism had been put in place, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Health had been maintaining close cooperation relation with Hong Kong Center for Health Protection. The two authorities had also been providing accurate information and notification to one another.

 

"On a recent human avian influenza case in Guangzhou, we are grateful for the Guangdong Provincial Health Department, which notified Hong Kong of the suspected case promptly, to facilitate our early preparation. Hong Kong was also informed as soon as the case was confirmed, and personnel of the Center for Health Protection were arranged to meet the experts of the Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention to learn more about the epidemiological works and information," Chow said.

 

Both sides agreed that given the threat of avian influenza, the two places would continue to enhance the notification mechanism with a view to safeguarding public health.

 

(Xinhua News Agency, March 25, 2006)