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The following is jointly issued by the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority:

As at 1 pm today (April 22), there is an additional 32 patients confirmed to have atypical pneumonia following admission to public hospitals earlier. They include 10 healthcare workers (three from United Christian Hospital, two from Prince of Wales Hospital, two from Tai Po Hospital, one from Princess Margaret Hospital, one from Yan Chai Hospital and one from Tuen Mun Hospital). The remaining 22 are other patients and contacts of patients with atypical pneumonia.

A total of 461 patients have recovered from atypical pneumonia and have been discharged from public hospitals. Of them, 25 were discharged today.

Most of the patients currently in hospital are showing positive responses to the new treatment protocol. One hundred and nine patients are receiving treatment in intensive care unit.

Five patients died in Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH), Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH), Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH). This brought to 99 the total number of deaths relating to atypical pneumonia.

The five deceased, aged from 66 to 88, include four men who have a history of chronic disease and an elderly woman. Their information is as follows:

Hospital        Patient's gender            Age
 AHNH                    male*                  84
                          male*                  66
 PWH                   female                   83
 QEH                      male*                 87
 PMH                      male*                 88

*denotes patient with a history of chronic disease

The cumulative figure for patients who have been admitted to public hospitals with atypical pneumonia since March 12 is as follows:

Nature	Cumulative Number	Total No. of Discharged Patients	Total No. of Deaths *
Health care workers of Hospitals/Clinics and medical students	331	122	99
Patients, family members & visitors	1103	339
Total	1434	461

*	Most of the deaths occurred in individuals who have a history of chronic diseases, or were patients who sought treatment at a relatively late stage of infection.

End/Tuesday, April 22, 2003

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• Prevention of Atypical Pneumonia