Pedestrians don surgical masks to guard themselves against the Wuhan pneumonia in Hong Kong, Jan 8, 2020. (CALVIN NG/CHINA DAILY)

Hong Kong leading epidemiologist Yuen Kwok-yung on Tuesday urged Hong Kong residents to avoid visiting Wuhan where there is an outbreak of the new coronavirus epidemic that has infected 291 people since Dec 8. 

Yuen, who also chairs the Infectious Diseases at the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong, stressed that the authority must maintain full alert and have emergency measures put in place as the city’s public hospitals are too crowded to keep even one single confirmed case under control.

Hong Kong leading epidemiologist Yuen Kwok-yung  stressed that the authority must maintain full alert and have emergency measures put in place as the city’s public hospitals are too crowded to keep even one single confirmed case under control

So far, there are 291 confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland, among which 270 were found in Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital city. Four patients infected with the disease had died. Beijing and Shanghai confirmed 5 and 2 cases respectively. Hong Kong’s neighboring Guangdong province reported 14 cases, with nine of them in Shenzhen.

Separately, medical experts from the University of Hong Kong said they estimated that as of Jan 17 the pneumonia-like coronavirus might have infected more than1,300 people in Wuhan and another 300 outside the city. 

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But they added that the risk for Hong Kong has remained low, with only 3 confirmed cases at most. 

Gabriel Matthew Leung, dean of HKU’s medical school explained that the estimates were based on mathematical models built with known data and information taking into account the number of travelers on air, railway, buses and private cars between Wuhan and other mainland cities during the Chinese New Year mass migration.  

Leung said so far he has no information on whether there has been a super-spreader like what happened during the SARS epidemic, when one single patient could infect over 10 people.

He agreed with the SAR government’s precautionary efforts so far. However, the government must remain fully alert to the spread of the disease. Any slack could lead to the increase in cases in Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong has recorded 106 suspected cases, but none of them were found to have been infected with the novel coronavirus. Of those cases, 81 patients have been discharged and the rest are in quarantine.

On Tuesday, Wuhan Municipal Health Commission announced enhanced measures, including restrictions on tourism groups from leaving Wuhan and selective checks on private cars traveling to and from Wuhan for carrying live poultry or wild animals.

The city has also strengthened the check on the health status of passengers at transportation hubs, and distributed brochures to travelers on disease prevention. Public transportation in Wuhan will be sterilized every day.