Current Travel Health News

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues. The total number of cases has reached 3,303 and the total number of deaths is 2,198. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern on 17 July 2019. For more information on Ebola virus disease, please visit the Centre for Health Protection’s thematic webpage: https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/34199.html

The Samoa government has declared a state of emergency due to measles outbreak. Currently, over 2,190 cases have been reported including 25 deaths. For more information on measles, please visit the Centre for Health Protection’s thematic webpage: https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/100419.html

The Philippines Department of Health has reported eight cases of poliomyelitis since being declared polio-free by the World Health Organization in 2000. An outbreak has been declared.

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues. The total number of cases has reached 3,299 and the total number of deaths is 2,196. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern on 17 July 2019. For more information on Ebola virus disease, please visit the Centre for Health Protection’s thematic webpage: https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/34199.html

Venezuela recorded the first local case of yellow fever since 2005, with the patient having disease onset on 14 September this year and still being hospitalized as of 13 November.

The Samoa government has declared a state of emergency due to measles outbreak. Currently, over 1000 cases have been reported including 17 deaths. For more information on measles, please visit the Centre for Health Protection’s thematic webpage: https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/100419.html

China has reported four human plague cases this year. The latest added case was a patient from Jiuquan City, Gansu Province who died of septicemic plague in September.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health reported the latest number of cases of dengue fever and chikungunya fever (CF), and strongly urged the public to maintain strict environmental hygiene, mosquito control and personal protective measures both locally and during travel.

A. Dengue fever

From November 15 to 21, the CHP confirmed five imported DF cases. The patients had respectively been to India (two cases), Cambodia (one case), Guangdong in Mainland China (one case) and Vietnam (one case) during the incubation period.

As of November 21, 191 cases had been recorded this year (including 190 imported cases and one local case), as compared with 155 cases recorded in the same period last year. The imported cases were mainly from Thailand (32), Malaysia (27) and the Philippines (24).

The CHP has been closely monitoring the latest DF situation in neighbouring and overseas areas. DF is endemic in many tropical and subtropical areas of the world. According to the World Health Organization, some Asian countries are experiencing unusually high numbers of DF cases this year. The numbers of cases in some countries were significantly higher than the numbers for the same period in 2018, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Separately, according to the Health Commission of Guangdong Province, as of October 31, 5,315 cases had been recorded in Guangdong this year, which was significantly higher than that in the same period last year (2,752 cases). The numbers of cases recorded in August, September and October were 1,209, 1,430 and 1,880 respectively. In Taiwan, as of November 21, 591 cases (including 100 local cases) had been recorded in 2019.

Detailed information on the latest DF situation in Hong Kong as well as neighbouring and overseas countries and areas this year has been uploaded to the CHP's website (www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/df_imported_cases_and_overseas_figures_eng.pdf). Members of the public should stay vigilant and carry out effective mosquito prevention and control measures.

B. Chikungunya fever

From November 15 to 21, the CHP recorded one CF case. The patient had been to India during the incubation period. As of November 21, 11 confirmed CF cases had been recorded this year, and all of them were imported cases comprising seven from Thailand, three from Myanmar and one from India.

Burundi is experiencing cholera outbreak in the western region. As of 12 November, 1,074 cases including 7 deaths have been recorded this year.

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues. The total number of cases has reached 3,298 and the total number of deaths is 2,196. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern on 17 July 2019. For more information on Ebola virus disease, please visit the Centre for Health Protection’s thematic webpage: https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/34199.html

The Philippines Department of Health has reported seven cases of poliomyelitis since being declared polio-free by the World Health Organization in 2000. An outbreak has been declared.

Marshall Islands is experiencing outbreak of dengue fever since June this year. 1,165 cases have been recorded, including 1 death.

In a follow-up on the Chikungunya fever outbreak in Ethiopia, nearly 2,000 additional suspected cases have been reported in recent weeks, bringing the outbreak total from Dire Dawa City Administrative City and Araf regions to 53,238 cases since the end of July.

The World Health Organization says the outbreak of yellow fever which started in Nigeria in September 2017 is ongoing. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 3,620 suspected yellow fever cases have been reported in 36 states, including 150 deaths.