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In response to media enquiries, the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, said he has never made any statement to the effect that the interest of the residents of Amoy Gardens would be sacrificed during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, nor at any time has he had such consideration.
He reiterated that public health was always the first priority in all his considerations and decisions made during the SARS outbreak.
The allegation that the Government has covered up the possibility that rats might have been a factor of transmission or has attempted to halt investigation is totally groundless.
The following facts demonstrate that there is absolutely no basis for any of the allegations made.
Block E of Amoy Gardens was isolated for ten days starting from the early morning of 31 March 2003 in view of the continuing increase in the number of cases in the block, and to protect the health of both the residents and the community as a whole by restricting the movement of infected persons to other places.
Block E residents of Amoy Gardens were evacuated to isolation camps on 1 April 2003 for temporary accommodation while the building underwent an in-depth investigation, in the light of preliminary evidence of the possibility of the sewerage system having contributed to the spread of SARS in Block E. Evidence at the time and even in retrospect did not support any plan to evacuate all residents of Amoy Gardens.
In the investigations into the Amoy Gardens outbreak, the Government had considered all possible factors of transmission, including rodents. In fact, the Government had conducted a series of investigations on rodents from Amoy Gardens, including the following-
- Autopsy was carried out on rats trapped on 5 April 2003, with no pathological evidence of infection.
- A total of 62 samples (including throat swabs, droppings, urine and serum) were taken from rodents and tested by the Government Virus Unit for SARS coronavirus. Of these, 6 samples from droppings and 2 samples from throat swabs were positive. However, all the serum samples (i.e. blood samples) were negative, indicating that the rodents were not infected.
The results of the investigations were that the rodents had shown no signs of infection or disease. The Government made public on 17 April 2003 the findings that the virus had been found in rodents in the investigation report of the Amoy Gardens outbreak. The report also states that as the rodents showed no signs of infection or disease, the findings only point to environmental contamination at Amoy Gardens and that pests are likely to be no more than mechanical carriers for the virus in the Amoy Gardens outbreak.
The findings of the Government's investigation were later corroborated by an investigation team from the World Health Organization (WHO), which had also carried out a thorough investigation of the Amoy Gardens outbreak.
Ends/Saturday, January 31, 2004
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