By Jhoo Dong-chan

A Korean Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) patient, who is being treated in China, may face indictment in Hong Kong for giving false information during airport entry, if he returns, The South China Morning Post reported Wednesday.

Hong Kong Health Secretary Ko Wingman said during a special legislative council meeting that he is considering legal action against the 44-year-old man.

“We are taking the case very seriously,” Ko was quoted as saying.

When asked whether the authority plans to indict him, Ko said he was considering it.

“We are now seeking advice from the Department of Justice. If the conditions and evidence are sufficient, the man will be prosecuted.”

Ko added legal action will only be taken if he returns to Hong Kong.

The Korean man was the son of Korea’s third MERS patient. He had a fever and was coughing but flew to Hong Kong on May 26 and spent time at the airport before entering Guangdong Province in China by bus.

Medical officers at the airport asked him whether he had had contact with MERS patients or visited a hospital where MERS patients were being treated. He said no but was later confirmed to have contracted MERS, according to Hong Kong authorities.

He has become China’s first MERS case and is now isolated in a hospital in Huizhou, Guangdong Province.

He claimed in an interview with Korean media that medical officers at Hong Kong airport only asked him whether he had caught a cold and whether visited a hospital, and did not mention anything about MERS.