Current Travel Health News

The Ministry of Health of Indonesia announced one new human case of H5N1 Avian Influenza. The patient was 23-year-old man from Jakarta Province. He developed symptoms on 31 December 2011 and died on 7 January 2012. Of the 183 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia, 151 have been fatal.

(Source: World Health Organization 11 January 2012)

In Indonesia, at least 200 human cases of Chikungunya Fever were reported in Depok, West Java in the past one month.

(Source: Promed Mail 8 January 2012)

In India, an outbreak of H5N1 Avian Influenza which killed 3 out of the some 35 000 susceptible birds was reported in a village in Orissa.

(Source: World Organisation for Animal Health 11 January 2012)

As of 23 December 2011, a total of 3 597 cases of Pertussis were reported in Western Australia, Australia. This represented about 2.5-fold increase as compared with last year.

(Source: ProMED-mail 11 January 2012)

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)