01 perspective
Written by: Comment Editor
2020-02-04 17:34
Last updated: 2020-02-04 17:34The new pneumonia epidemic continues. In addition to the citizens returning to Hong Kong from the Mainland or the introduction of viruses, the risks posed by tourists are also of concern, and they may cause an outbreak in the community. Since the first case in Hong Kong, there have been hotel- and guest-house-associated infections in Hong Kong. For example, a Wuhan couple who was diagnosed with the disease last month stayed in three hotels. On Monday (3rd), the Department of Health was notified of another case. The confirmed case in Shenzhen used to live in a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. The epidemic prevention measures at the passenger's residence are undoubtedly a hidden concern of the epidemic. Both the Immigration Department and the Food and Health Bureau should respond quickly and lead the industry to strengthen epidemic prevention. Don't forget the sad lessons of SARS in 2003.
Immigration Department Must Have Passenger Information
Visitors to Hong Kong come from all over the world. Even Chinese tourists are divided by provinces. However, the government released figures are mainly tourist statistics and statistics required by the tourism industry. There is no relevant statistics on Chinese tourists ’activities in Hong Kong. . As a result of the outbreak, the government's grasp of passenger information was not sufficient to prevent epidemics. Last Thursday (30th), after the Security Bureau refused the entry of Hubei tourists, the Hong Kong government still had to inspect 110 hotels in conjunction with the hotel industry in order to find 15 Hubei tourists staying in different hotels. The incident reflects that the Hong Kong Government has insufficient information on visitors to Hong Kong, and it has formed a certain degree of epidemic prevention difficulties.
In order to meet the needs of epidemic prevention, the government can adapt to the time and set up a temporary database of tourists, integrating hotels, guesthouses from different provinces, and their entry time and contact information, so as to grasp the distribution of passengers in hotels and guesthouses in Hong Kong . Once the outbreak worsens, or when close contacts of patients diagnosed on the mainland have entered the country, the Hong Kong Government can track the whereabouts of the relevant people in real time based on the database, so that the Government can respond in a timely manner, such as contacting relevant passengers and restricting them to densely populated areas , And even isolate related passengers when necessary, and even close related hotels and guesthouses. Although it is necessary to collect personal information when passengers enter the country, it can avoid the situation of searching for tourists and visiting each hotel from door to door, so that the epidemic prevention and control can be made faster with time.
It is a good thing for the hotel industry to have this consciousness, but there are nearly 291 hotels in Hong Kong and about 2,000 legally licensed hotels. The government of social epidemic prevention cannot rely on the industry's "self-discipline." (Profile picture)
Department of Health should lead hotel and guesthouse epidemic prevention
Different hotels and guesthouses have different treatment methods for the health status of tourists. Li Hancheng, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Hotel Owners Association, pointed out that at present, when hotel guests are staying in hotels, most hotels will take the temperature of the guests and observe whether they have any surface symptoms, such as cough, and some hotels will also require travelers to fill in In the tourism declaration form within 14 days, if the guest unfortunately develops an illness in the hotel room, the hotel will ask the guest to go to the hospital for medical treatment, otherwise they will call the Department of Health or the relevant local area for processing. It is a good thing for the hotel industry to have this consciousness, but there are nearly 291 hotels in Hong Kong and about 2,000 legally licensed hotels. The epidemic prevention work cannot rely solely on the industry's "self-discipline."
The so-called "prevention is better than repair". In addition to the immigration department's need to sort out passenger information in advance to facilitate the government to take immediate action against tourists in response to the epidemic, the Department of Health is also responsible for leading the hotel's epidemic prevention work. In addition to issuing instructions and printing leaflets instructing hotels and guesthouses to carry out epidemic prevention, in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic in the community, the Department of Health should consider further unifying the epidemic prevention standards for the hotel and hotel industry to follow, and conduct surprise inspections of the epidemic prevention situation of each passenger's residence To ensure that the sanitary condition of each residence is sufficient to avoid immunity.
In addition to body temperature testing at check-in, the Department of Health may also require the industry to measure the temperature of every passenger entering a hotel, guesthouse, or other hotel facility to ensure that potential patients with new symptoms of pneumonia, such as fever, are to be treated. For the activities of tourists in the hotel, the hotel can refer to some industry practices and require buffet diners to disinfect their hands before meals, increase the table distance between each diner, disinfect the facilities such as spas and fitness rooms in a timely manner, and even tighten the use of this facility The maximum number of people ensures a certain social distance between users. When the epidemic worsens, the Department of Health should instruct the industry to stop the hotel facilities to avoid further cross-infection.
Looking back at atypical pneumonia in 2003, the Jinghua International Hotel at that time was regarded as the source of the outbreak in Hong Kong. This time when the epidemic is encountered again in Hong Kong, the government must pay more attention to the prevention of epidemic diseases in hotels. The Department of Health, the Immigration Department and relevant departments should take extra care in preventing the epidemic in hotels to prevent the epidemic from spreading in the hotels and becoming the lead of the community outbreak.
01 perspective
Immigration Department of Wuhan Pneumonia Hotel Hospitality Industry Tourism Protection Center 01 Viewpoint