Officer who checked on isolation cases gets Sars
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
hongkong.scmp.com
STELLA LEE
A police officer who last Friday conducted checks on people kept under home isolation for having had close contact with Sars patients has been infected with the virus.
The constable is the 10th member of the force who has come down with the disease, but the only one suspected to have contracted the illness from work. The other nine, who contracted the disease outside work, included two civilians and one auxiliary officer.
The police officer is understood to have been admitted to Tuen Mun Hospital on Sunday suffering from fever. He was confirmed to be infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) yesterday.
A police spokeswoman said that last Friday the constable had visited several houses of people who are being kept under home isolation.
It is understood that the officer, from Kowloon East Police Tactical Unit, went to the homes on his work patch but that none of the addresses were in Amoy Gardens or on Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate in Kowloon Bay. As of yesterday, 321 residents of Amoy Gardens had been infected with Sars - the worst affected site in Hong Kong - while at least 34 have been infected on Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate.
The home visits, designed to check whether people had breached isolation orders, do not require officers to enter homes.
The spokeswoman said the officer was also deployed to help execute the isolation order imposed on Block E of Amoy Gardens on March 31. But it is understood that the officer was responsible for cordoning off the road at the outskirts of the block and had not entered the building or escorted any patients.
"We are still trying to find out where the officer contracted the disease," the spokeswoman said.
The officer had worn a mask and a pair of gloves while on duty last Friday and on March 31. His wife is understood to be a nurse.
Colleagues who worked closely with the officer are understood to have undergone checks and none of them were found to have Sars.
The police spokeswoman said all frontline officers working in high-risk areas would be required to wear protective gear, while other officers would also be issued with masks if they wanted.
The chairman of the Junior Police Officers' Association, Lau Kam-wah, urged the force to find out as soon as possible if the constable had contracted the disease while on work to ease concerns.
Some frontline officers posted messages on an unofficial police Web site expressing fears over the latest case. One suggested a special taskforce be set up to carry out Sars-related duties. |
