A Hong Kong tourist group, including a six-year-old girl listed as a suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) case, left Taiwan last night by a plane charted by the Hong Kong government.
The Mainland Affairs Council agreed to let the group go after Hong Kong's Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
The tourists were taken back to Hong Kong on a specially chartered Dragon Air flight. The girl was separated from the rest of the group for the duration of the one-hour trip.
The group arrived in Taiwan on April 23 and toured Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan and Taichung in central Taiwan. As the group traveled to to Taipei on Saturday, the girl began to show SARS-related symptoms, including coughing and fever.
Chen Tzay-jinn (陳再晉), director-general of Taiwan's Center for Disease Control, confirmed yesterday in a press conference that the girl is a suspected SARS case.
"We have collected her samples for SARS examination, and the final result has yet to be determined," he said. "The doctor cannot confirm if she is infected with SARS after examining her lung X-rays, but we are sure that her symptoms meets the World Health Organization's definitions of suspected SARS case."
Meanwhile, Kilin Hotel, in downtown Taipei, decided to close its doors yesterday.
The 200-room hotel is the first tourist hotel in Taiwan to close due to a slow-down in business.
The Kilin Hotel will be closed for at least 15 days, while the 150 staff members will be put on unpaid leave, said Yang Ming-hui (
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