The Hong Kong government has closed access to the Tsing Yi Nature Trails after five visitors contracted the chikungunya virus, raising the number of local cases to 10.
The five local cases of chikungunya fever involve two men and three women aged between 49 and 67, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The onset dates of their symptoms were between mid-November and December 2,” the CHP said.
“Epidemiological investigations revealed that the activities of the five patients overlapped at the Tsing Yi Nature Trails and that some of them had reportedly been bitten by mosquitoes there. Among them, the latest case visited the trails on November 29.”
The Tuesday statement also said that the trail would be closed from midnight until further notice, while several government departments, including the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), would conduct more intensive mosquito control in the area.
This year, Hong Kong has logged a total of 78 cases of the mosquito-borne disease, which shares symptoms similar to dengue fever. Nearly three-quarters of the chikungunya cases were imported.
The city recorded its first locally acquired chikungunya case in October.
Robot dogs deployed
The FEHD has also deployed robot dogs and fogging machines to spray mosquito larvicide along the entire trails and in the vicinity, according to the statement.
The robot dogs, which cost HK$600,000 each, were introduced under a pilot scheme to help the FEHD spray mosquito larvicides on hiking trails and collect ocean trash from hard-to-access beaches, according to Sing Tao newspaper and the department’s social media posts.
The CHP is also conducting an epidemiological investigation into a chikungunya patient – a 23-year-old woman who lives in Sheung Wan – identified on December 3, the statement said.
Members of the public who reside or work in Sheung Wan – particularly on Queen’s Road West near Morrison Street and Hollywood Road – and who experienced fever, rash or joint pain on or after November 15, should seek medical attention or contact the CHP immediately, it said.
