Health | Passenger aboard MERS patient plane in Macau

The Health Bureau (SSM) is searching for a South Korean visitor in Macau who entered the city after coming into contact with a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) patient last Tuesday on an Asian Airlines flight OZ723 from Seoul to Hong Kong.
The bureau disclosed on Sunday evening that apart from five passengers who were identified as being in close contact with the initial patient, there were also 26 Korean passengers on the same flight who visited Macau between May 26 and 28. According to the Judiciary Police’s border checkpoint record, all of those visitors left Macau on May 28 and 29, except one, who is believed to have remained in the city since last Tuesday.
The 26 passengers are not identified as close contacts with the index patient; therefore, the one remaining in Macau will not be put into quarantine, stated the SSM.
Nevertheless, the bureau is appealing to the remaining visitor to contact the Macau Centre for Disease Control and Prevention at 2870 0800 or info.cdc@ssm.gov.mo, so that they can ascertain that person’s health condition. Meanwhile, authorities are tracking down the other travelers’ whereabouts and health conditions.
In addition, of the 18 passengers who have so far been put into quarantine in HK after coming into close contact with the index patient, none have shown symptoms of the disease. That group includes one who has spent several hours in Macau.
The bureau also confirmed that four Korean passengers were among those to have been in close contact with the patient; they visited Macau briefly, but didn’t enter HK or mainland China afterwards.
Three new diagnoses were reported in South Korea and one in Qatar on Sunday. According to the World Health Organization, as of May 31, the total number of MERS infections reached 1149, causing at least 431 deaths.
The bureau urged the public, especially those who have visited the Middle East and Korea recently, to immediately seek medical treatment if fever or cough-like symptoms develop. BY