South China Morning Post - Hong Kong Health & Environment

Hong Kong will step up health surveillance measures for arrivals after a laboratory worker at an anti-plague research institute in Russia died from pneumonia, but authorities have stressed the risk to residents remains low. According to World Health Organization (WHO) information provided by Russian authorities, there was no evidence of ongoing transmission, the Centre for Healt...

About 9 per cent of stroke and heart failure cases may be prevented in Hong Kong over the next decade through a government co-care scheme, according to a university projection. Launched in 2023, the Chronic Disease Co-care Scheme has enrolled over 200,000 residents as of January. Originally a pilot scheme, it was regularised in March, with around 40 per cent of those who complet...

At least two people were airlifted to hospital in the past two days after falling ill while hiking in Hong Kong, with a 17-year-old Singaporean girl discharged and the other dying. The teenager was flown to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai on Saturday morning after vomiting and experiencing chills while hiking on Lion Rock, a 495-metre peak. In a separate incident, a middle-aged m...

Hong Kong has recorded 21 cases of mpox since August, accounting for 70 per cent of this year’s total, prompting health authorities to urge people who engage in high-risk sexual contact to take protective measures and get vaccinated to reduce their risk of infection. The latest case, involving a 29-year-old man, brought the total number recorded in Hong Kong this year to 30, com...

Environmentalists and academics have criticised the omission of a systemic heat-health action plan in Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and latest policy address, warning that relying on “common sense” is failing to protect vulnerable residents from rising temperatures. Their comments came as new research from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) found that extreme heat may have con...