Ordinary Gweilo

No scaremongering in the SCMP today (Flu fight recalls dark days of Sars), oh no:

Health authorities announced a string of contingency measures yesterday to combat flu that recalled action taken during the Sars emergency five years ago.

The measures, including shortened visiting hours in public hospitals, daily announcements of outbreaks and a public-education campaign, came five days after the death of a three-year-old girl in Tuen Mun.

Controller of the Centre for Health Protection Thomas Tsang Ho-fai  announced the measures in the midst of the peak season because of “general community concerns”.

So how big is this flu epidemic?

In the week ending on Saturday, the centre’s laboratory surveillance system confirmed 166 people had contracted flu.

This compared with an average of 144 cases a week during the winter flu peak season in 2006 and 177 a week last year.

So it would be fair to be fair to say it isn’t an epidemic at all, just the normal flu?  And no need to start mentioning SARS?