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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, at a press conference tonight (April 1) on the latest situation of severe acute respiratory syndrome:
I'll do this in English and then highlight in Chinese. As you know, we have yesterday activated the isolation order and required the individuals who stayed in Block E of Amoy Gardens, restricted at the moment, required them to stay in the building and had the isolation order that restricted their movements in and out of Block E of Amoy Gardens. And this was because we had an outbreak of infection which is very unique in E block, which we believe was a source of infection to the other blocks.
Today, we have taken a step further. This is because we have been working night and day to investigate the cause of this very unique outbreak and we are of the view that at this stage we need to do a much more detailed in-depth investigation of the facilities in Block E. Because we believe that it is the condition of the facilities that is one of the factors that contributed to this very unusual and alarming outbreak in Amoy Gardens.
We will be looking at all the facilities, including the sewage system etc. In order to protect the residents of Block E of Amoy Gardens while the investigative work is being carried out, we consider it necessary to evacuate residents of the premises, and we are giving them temporary accommodation at two holiday camps for this period. Of course, there is still a need to isolate these residents because they have been potentially infected, so the isolation order continues and this will last for at least 10 days.
Obviously, we have had quite a massive exercise yesterday and another massive exercise today. It's been very difficult for the residents, and we are most grateful to the residents for their understanding because it's really very difficult for them first to be asked to restrict their movements within their homes and now to be asked to move to temporary accommodation at such a short period. We completely understand some of the anxieties and concerns, some of the frustration and unhappiness during the move. But we in general found the residents to be very understanding and co-operative. Obviously, we had difficulties in some areas but I think one would expect that to occur under such very difficult circumstances for the residents. We apologise to the residents for any inconvenience and we hope that we have their understanding that this move is absolutely necessary and is for their own protection.
Obviously, we have asked the residents to pack their personal belongings and to take only the minimum essential items with them. We have also asked them to permit us to enter their flats because we need to do the detailed investigations of all the building facilities to really get to the bottom of why there was this very, very unusual and alarming outbreak. The building will be sealed off and there will be sufficient staff to protect law and order. I would certainly like to appeal to households to continue to pay special attention to their personal hygiene and cleanliness and to disinfect their premises regularly.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion.)
End/Tuesday, April 1, 2003
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