【M&C】Hong Kong releases swine flu guests after 7 day lock-in (Roundup)

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Hong Kong releases swine flu guests after 7 day lock-in (Roundup)
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/health/news/article_1475915.php/Hong_Kong_releases_swine_flu_guests_after_7_day_lock-in__Roundup

May 8, 2009, 14:16 GMT

Hong Kong - More than 240 guests held in quarantine for a week at the Hong Kong hotel where East Asia's first case of swine flu stayed were freed amid jubilant scenes Friday evening.

One woman guest hugged a policeman wearing a face mask as a file of beaming guests walked out of a seven-day lock-in at the Metropark Hotel. Some held up their hands in signs of triumph as they walked out.

Each of the guests left with a certificate by doctors to confirm they were free of any swine flu symptoms as well as a bundle of gifts from the Hong Kong government ahead of their release.

Ironically, the gifts included two free nights in another Hong Kong hotel - and some overseas guests said they would take up the offer as it was too late to travel out of Hong Kong when they were released at around 8.30 p.m. Friday.

The guests, along with scores of staff, have been locked in the hotel in the city's Wan Chai district since May 1 when a fellow guest, a Mexican tourist, was confirmed to have the H1N1 flu virus.

In preparation for their departure, the Hong Kong government closed the roads around the hotel. Crowds of reporters waited at the edge of a cordon to interview released guests.

On Thursday night, some of the guests held a party in the lobby to celebrate their impending release and posted footage on YouTube showing them dancing, raising glasses and laughing.

The footage also featured a Korean businessman, who earlier in the week made headlines for his angry rant broadcast on radio and on YouTube over the possible loss of a multi-billion-dollar contract while he was in quarantine.

By way of contrast, in the footage of the party he is seen laughing, passing out drinks and dancing with a tall, attractive blonde as policemen wearing masks stand by.

Among the group celebrating Thursday was Indian national, Kevin Ireland, 45, from New Delhi who was in Hong Kong to attend a trade fair when he was quarantined.

'We are all relieved and glad to be in sight of our release or eviction, or whatever you wish to call it,' Ireland told the German Press Agency dpa by telephone.

'The spirits of the guests have lifted over the last two days. We had a good time last night. It wasn't a serious drinking binge, just a couple of bottles of wine and some pastries from the French guests that got passed around,' he said.

Ireland, who was in Hong Kong with three colleagues, said in the early days he had thought it prudent of Hong Kong to quarantine the guests but as days passed and it emerged that it was not as serious as originally believed, he thought they should have been allowed to leave early.

'It's been extremely inconvenient. We all had commitments and meetings and had to re-do our schedules,' Ireland said.

'But at the end of the day, the government and hotel staff treated us well. They really took care of us and catered for all reasonable needs and demands. It was one new experience I can jot down in my diary.'

The Hong Kong government has offered guests two free nights at another hotel. However, Ireland said he and his colleagues had declined the offer and booked into a more luxurious hotel.

'The primary reason was that we thought we deserved to treat ourselves to a little luxury after the last seven days.

We also though it possible there would be more official stuff to deal with at the hotel offered by the government.

'I don't know how many guests will take up the offer. I think a lot of them will be going to the airport and running away. After I check in, I'm going to put down my bags, go out to a bar and relax.'

A group of 32 travellers on the same Hong Kong-bound flight as the Mexican tourist with swine flu, plus two taxi drivers who drove him around the city, were released Thursday.

The 25-year-old Mexican at the centre of the scare has recovered but is still under quarantine in hospital.

So far, no other cases have been detected, and all tests for the H1N1 virus among guests, staff and fellow passengers have come back negative.

The action to quarantine guests was criticized by public-health experts as an overreaction, especially as the threat of a global pandemic appeared to be ebbing.

Hong Kong came under fire for failing to act quickly in the early days of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003.

Nearly 300 people died and around 1,800 were infected when SARS spread to Hong Kong from southern China through an infected patient who stayed in a city hotel.