The Hong Kong health department has confirmed one more case of dengue fever, taking the total number of cases confirmed in the past week to 16.
The new case involved a 52-year-old male who lives on the outlying island of Cheung Chau, according to a government release.
The man suffered fever, headaches, retro-orbital pain, myalgia and skin rash symptoms from August 15 and sought medical treatment at Cheung Chau’s St John Hospital on Saturday. He was transferred to Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong island, on the same day.
Centre for Health Protection controller Dr Wong Ka-hing said it was relatively likely that there was more than one source of the infection on the tourist island, Headline Daily reported.
Last week, a woman aged 84 who lives on Cheung Chau was confirmed to have been infected. As she has not left the island lately, it is likely she was infected locally.
Though the male victim works in Kowloon’s Lai Chi Kok, he remembered that he had suffered mosquito bites while walking on the island’s Fa Peng Road during the incubation period.
The man had not been to Lion Rock Country Park, the park that on Saturday the government closed for 30 days. The authorities are now working to wipe out mosquito breeding sites.
Over the weekend, four more cases of dengue fever were confirmed.
The patients, aged from 55 to 69, had all been to Lion Rock Park recently. Two of them worked in the park, while the others had gone hiking there. They live in Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon and Tsing Yi in the New Territories. They are all reportedly in stable condition.
Read: Hong Kong in danger of dengue outbreak: health official