<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Briton living in S'pore quarantined in HK hotel
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Three Singaporeans are also among those who have to remain in Metropark for a week </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Carolyn Quek and Kimberly Spykerman
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Mrs Juliet Keys, 40, was supposed to be back in Singapore today, but it looks like she will be home only late this week.
She is stuck in the Metropark Hotel Wanchai in Hong Kong, along with some 200 guests and 100 staff, under quarantine orders issued by the authorities on Friday night.
According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry here, three Singaporeans are being kept in the hotel as well.
Mrs Keys, a Briton who lives here with her Australian husband and their three-year-old daughter, checked into the four-star hotel the night before, after a 25-year-old Mexican sickened with Influenza A (H1N1) had checked out.
He had stayed on the 11th floor. Mrs Keys, who has lived in Singapore for six years, is on the 18th and top floor.
She was in Hong Kong for a friend's birthday party, which she was was to have attended yesterday.
'I think the guests are frustrated. It's hard because we all have got lives and we don't want to be stuck in the hotel for seven days. We wonder if it's really necessary,' she said.
'But that's what it has to be, so everyone has to get along with it now.'
The Mexican tourist marks Asia's first case of the virus, which has also reached South Korea.
A 51-year-old South Korean woman has been quarantined. She had returned from Mexico early last week.
Speaking to The Sunday Times by phone from her hotel room, Mrs Keys said that all the guests, most of whom were Asians and male business travellers, were given a 10-day course of Tamiflu on Friday night. They will be quarantined for a week.
Fully masked and gowned nurses and doctors take their temperatures every morning.
Meals are delivered to the rooms.
Guests list down essential items they need so hotel staff can get them for them.
A friend of Mrs Keys got a laptop and some DVDs passed into the hotel for her. 'It'll be all videos now,' she joked.
Although there are reports that some people think Hong Kong's hotel quarantine was an over-reaction, the World Health Organisation has backed its move.
Said its spokesman: 'We don't have a policy on quarantining hotels...but we like governments to be as sure as they can that they're controlling the situation rather than missing opportunities.
'So in that context, we're happy with what Hong Kong has done.'
Singapore's Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he was impressed by the fast action of the Hong Kong authorities, as well as the civic consciousness of the Mexican traveller who came forward as soon as he developed a fever.
'This is what we should learn from this Hong Kong episode,' he said.
Two Singaporeans who returned from Mexico recently are on voluntary phone surveillance and are doing well.
In all, 25 cases here have been investigated and cleared of the virus. As of 5pm yesterday, there were no cases under probe, said the Health Ministry.
From today, thermal scanners will be placed at the land checkpoints in Tuas and Woodlands.
From tomorrow, those who enter Singapore and have recently been to Mexico will face a seven- day quarantine.
Yesterday, a suspected case of H1N1 flu was being checked in Malaysia.
Samples from a New Zealander, warded for body ache and fever at the Penang Hospital, have been sent to the Institute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur, The Star quoted Malaysian Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai as saying.
According to the daily, the 45-year-old man, who is married to a Malaysian, arrived in Penang from New Zealand on April 25.
[email protected] [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Three Singaporeans are also among those who have to remain in Metropark for a week </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Carolyn Quek and Kimberly Spykerman
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
Mrs Juliet Keys, 40, was supposed to be back in Singapore today, but it looks like she will be home only late this week.
She is stuck in the Metropark Hotel Wanchai in Hong Kong, along with some 200 guests and 100 staff, under quarantine orders issued by the authorities on Friday night.
According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry here, three Singaporeans are being kept in the hotel as well.
Mrs Keys, a Briton who lives here with her Australian husband and their three-year-old daughter, checked into the four-star hotel the night before, after a 25-year-old Mexican sickened with Influenza A (H1N1) had checked out.
He had stayed on the 11th floor. Mrs Keys, who has lived in Singapore for six years, is on the 18th and top floor.
She was in Hong Kong for a friend's birthday party, which she was was to have attended yesterday.
'I think the guests are frustrated. It's hard because we all have got lives and we don't want to be stuck in the hotel for seven days. We wonder if it's really necessary,' she said.
'But that's what it has to be, so everyone has to get along with it now.'
The Mexican tourist marks Asia's first case of the virus, which has also reached South Korea.
A 51-year-old South Korean woman has been quarantined. She had returned from Mexico early last week.
Speaking to The Sunday Times by phone from her hotel room, Mrs Keys said that all the guests, most of whom were Asians and male business travellers, were given a 10-day course of Tamiflu on Friday night. They will be quarantined for a week.
Fully masked and gowned nurses and doctors take their temperatures every morning.
Meals are delivered to the rooms.
Guests list down essential items they need so hotel staff can get them for them.
A friend of Mrs Keys got a laptop and some DVDs passed into the hotel for her. 'It'll be all videos now,' she joked.
Although there are reports that some people think Hong Kong's hotel quarantine was an over-reaction, the World Health Organisation has backed its move.
Said its spokesman: 'We don't have a policy on quarantining hotels...but we like governments to be as sure as they can that they're controlling the situation rather than missing opportunities.
'So in that context, we're happy with what Hong Kong has done.'
Singapore's Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he was impressed by the fast action of the Hong Kong authorities, as well as the civic consciousness of the Mexican traveller who came forward as soon as he developed a fever.
'This is what we should learn from this Hong Kong episode,' he said.
Two Singaporeans who returned from Mexico recently are on voluntary phone surveillance and are doing well.
In all, 25 cases here have been investigated and cleared of the virus. As of 5pm yesterday, there were no cases under probe, said the Health Ministry.
From today, thermal scanners will be placed at the land checkpoints in Tuas and Woodlands.
From tomorrow, those who enter Singapore and have recently been to Mexico will face a seven- day quarantine.
Yesterday, a suspected case of H1N1 flu was being checked in Malaysia.
Samples from a New Zealander, warded for body ache and fever at the Penang Hospital, have been sent to the Institute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur, The Star quoted Malaysian Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai as saying.
According to the daily, the 45-year-old man, who is married to a Malaysian, arrived in Penang from New Zealand on April 25.
[email protected] [email protected]
