***********************************************************
In view of the prolonged Norovirus season this year, the Hospital Authority Central Committee on Infectious Disease (CCID) held a special meeting to review the latest situation of gastroenteritis cases in public hospitals and the community, in particular, residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs).
Also invited to the meeting were representatives of hospital Community Geriatric Assessment Teams (CGATs), which will support the initiatives of the Department of Health and Social Welfare Department (SWD) to provide health education to staff of RCHEs and the early identification of unusual cluster of gastroenteritis cases.
Dr Liu Shao-haei, CCID Chairman, said after the meeting that a number of enhanced measures would be taken to address the outbreak situation. These include the following:
* A working group with representatives from Elderly Health Service of the Department of Health, SWD and CGATs of the Hospital Authority will continuously monitor the situation and coordinate case management and control measures among different parties.
* Daily alert on new institutional outbreaks will be sent to all public hospital Infection Control Teams to facilitate proactive action at hospital level.
* Promulgate enhanced infection control measures for RCHEs and hospital wards with updated guidelines especially on the importance of extensive environment disinfection and hand hygiene.
* Enhance awareness of staff via internal newsletters and other means of communication by providing them with situation updates when appropriate.
"It is hoped that with the joint efforts of the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health, SWD, the RCHEs and the community, gastroenteritis cases caused by Norovirus can be identified earlier and further spread of this highly infectious disease can be controlled," Dr Liu said.
Ends/Monday, June 26, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:57
NNNN
