'Mainland covering up details of Wuhan illness'

Commuters in Hong Kong wear face masks as a precaution, but a patients' rights activists says the mainland is not providing details about the illness. Photo: AP

A patients' rights activist on Wednesday accused the mainland authorities of not providing details of a mystery disease that has spread in Wuhan, and warned that officials there are repeating mistakes committed during the 2003 Sars outbreak.



The Hubei capital has reported around 60 cases of the unidentified illness, and Hong Kong has followed up on 30 cases of people who fell ill and had travelled to the city recently. About a dozen of them were later cleared.



Taiwan and Singapore have also reported suspected cases but no area on the mainland apart from Wuhan has officially reported any suspected cases.



Alex Lam, chairman of Hong Kong Patients' Voices, said on Wednesday that he's concerned history will repeat itself.



"We learnt a bitter lesson in 2003 when there was a total cover up [by the mainland authorities] of the Sars virus for over three months," he said.



"I start to see something similar happening," Lam told RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme.



"We don't see many reported cases in China, and the only cases reported are in Wuhan, and we start seeing suspected cases in Hong Kong'" he said. "But in China, no suspected cases. Or they don't want to reveal to the world what is happening in China, that's what I'm worried about."



Unless there is information available about the illness, it could get worse as many people will be on the move during the upcoming Lunar New Year, he said.



"Hong Kong is an international city and a major port for people from China. Things will get worse because of the Chinese New Year coming later this month and people will be travelling a lot," he said.



"That's a big concern because we are yet to know whether this virus is airborne, [spread] from people to people ... so it really depends on how scientists can tell us what's happening in Wuhan."



The Hong Kong government has added the disease to a list of illnesses that must be reported to the authorities by doctors. This enables health officials to isolate patients suspected of contracting the respiratory condition until they recover or are found to have something else.



But Lam said hospitals here would still find it difficult to cope if there is a wider outbreak as their facilities are fullly stretched already due to the winter flu season.