More than 20 departments and organisations participated in an exercise to test inter-departmental actions in response to a major plague outbreak in Hong Kong.
The exercise was conducted on the basis of the contingency plan for plague, which stipulates the response actions of the Department of Health to plague and collaborative actions with other government departments.
It tested against various scenarios, including the detection of an increasing rat-flea index and rodent infestation rate, an imported case, a locally confirmed case and multi-cluster outbreak of human cases.
It also included a scenario on flea and rodent control unfolding against the background of an imported human case which was confirmed to be infected with bubonic plague.
The Department of Health and the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department started investigation and risk assessment immediately and visited the 'patient's' home and its vicinity.
The Department of Health noted the exercise helped enhance relevant stakeholders' preparedness for any possible future outbreak of plague.
