Current Travel Health News

As of 12 September 2012, nine local cases of malaria have been reported in Greece since the beginning of this year. These cases were detected from states of Laconia, Attica and Xanthri.

In Nepal, Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak was reported in capital and 3 other cities in mid-western district. A total of 24 deaths were resulted.

In Piracicaba city, Brazil, 3 confirmed and 4 suspected cases of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever were detected. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is transmitted by the bite of infective ticks. Affected persons may present with fever, headache, muscle pain, nausea and skin rash and the first symptoms typically begins 2 to 14 days after the bite of an infected tick. Travellers should adopt measures similar to anti-mosquito measures to avoid tick bite.

In Batan Island, Philippines, there was a sudden rise of Chikungunya Fever cases over the last 3 weeks and 83 people were affected.

As widespread violent clashes occurred in many cities across Syria, including Daraa, Latakia, Damascus, Baniyas, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, resulting in serious casualties, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has raised the Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) for Syria to Black. Residents are urged to avoid all travel to the country. Those already there should attend to their personal safety and avoid protests and large gatherings of people.

For more information, please visit the OTA webpage.

(Source: Security Bureau, Government of Hong Kong SAR 26 April 2011)

Following the hostage taking incident in the Philippines which had caused casualties, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has raised the Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) for the Philippines to Black. Hong Kong residents are urged to avoid all travel to the Philippines. Those already there should attend to their personal safety and stay alert.

For more information, please visit the OTA webpage.

For more information, please visit the World Health Organization webpage.