Another Mers scare in Hong Kong as South Korean man with fever is isolated in hospital

An MTR employee stands by a restricted area next to a closed clinic (L) at the Tsing Yi MTR station in Hong Kong on June 10, 2015. PHOTO: AFP
An MTR employee stands by a restricted area next to a closed clinic (L) at the Tsing Yi MTR station in Hong Kong on June 10, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

HONG KONG (AFP) - Images on the local media in Hong Kong have again shown people wearing hazmat suits at a major subway station, and workers cleaning escalators and mopping the floors after a 17-year-old South Korean man with a fever sought medical care at a clinic in the station.

The city's health minister said the man was being tested for Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers). "Today there is a patient, he is a young Korean male and came to Hong Kong from the US passing through South Korea. He's been in Hong Kong for around 10 days but today he had a fever," the city's Health Minister Ko Wing-man told reporters.

The city has not reported any cases of Mers, though multiple people have been tested for the virus.

The area outside the clinic in the station was cordoned off and the man has since been isolated in hospital.

Earlier this month, the city flagged four suspected cases of Mers at clinics, but all have tested negative.

A suspected case involving a 22-year-old woman who went to a private clinic in Tsing Yi had triggered panic, where the area around the clinic was cordoned off and health officials there wore protective gear.

It has issued a "red alert" advisory against non-essential travel to South Korea.

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