Urgent measures to prevent the epidemic of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in South Korea from spreading to Hong Kong  (2015/06/03)

MR YIU SI-WING: Last year when there was an outbreak of MERS, the authorities invited the travel agencies for a meeting. The Secretary attended the meeting to introduce to us the precautionary measures. That was a very good approach. As more Hong Kong people will travel to South Korea than to the Middle East, in the light of the epidemic outbreak in South Korea, will the authorities enhance the publicity to remind travel agencies or people who plan to go to South Korea or the Middle East to take proper precautionary measures?

SECRETARY FOR FOOD AND HEALTH: President, I thank Mr YIU for his supplementary question. We have been liaising closely with the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, providing it with the latest information and relevant guidelines in a timely manner, so that travel agencies can take proper care of their clients during the tours and pay attention to their health conditions. More importantly, we keep reminding travel agencies that if they operate any tours to visit the Middle East regions, they should not arrange their clients for camel riding or contacting any camel-related products or environments, no matter such activities are self-financed or not. We will hold a seminar if necessary.