HONG KONG: Travelers quarantined in a Hong Kong hotel for a week after a Mexican guest tested positive for H1N1 flu expressed frustration yesterday at the tough steps and a medical expert said 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. They ordered the approximately 200 guests and 100 staff to stay in the hotel for the next seven days.
Officials said no one would be allowed to leave the hotel in the Wanchai district, an area popular with tourists. “It just feels surreal because you are trapped,” said Juliet Keys, who arrived from Singapore on Thursday and had planned to leave today. “I’m fine but it is a bit frustrating because I have a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter (and husband) in Singapore.”
More worrisome for city officials was the fact that 50 people did not return to the hotel after it was placed under quarantine. Thomas Tsang, controller of the Center for Health Protection, said officials were still trying to trace the 50 guests. Tsang added that seven more people had been tested on suspicion of contracting the flu.
