HONG KONG, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Serious Response Level was activated in public hospitals in Hong Kong to tie in with the city Preparedness Plan for Influenza Pandemic following the reporting of the first human bird flu case since February 2003, Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said in a statement on Wednesday night.

Earlier in the day, a 59-year-old local woman was found to have contracted H5N1 avian flu virus after visiting the Chinese mainland last month, said Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health York Chow.

Chow said the patient went to the mainland on Oct. 23 where she visited places including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing. She developed flu symptoms such as cough and fever on Nov. 2, one day after returning to Hong Kong, and was later admitted to Tun Mun Hospital.

According to the Hospital Authority spokesman, series of measures to enhance surveillance and infection control will be implemented in public hospitals and clinics.

An urgent meeting of the Hospital Authority Central Committee on Infectious Diseases and Emergency Responses was convened in the afternoon to discuss the arrangements and implementation of the enhanced measures in public hospitals, he said.

The Hospital Authority spokesman said public hospitals will closely monitor the all suspected as well as confirmed cases and enhance the existing report mechanism.

Furthermore, high risk patients attending Accident and Emergency Departments and general out-patient clinics would be triaged according to stipulated clinical guidelines, and appropriate tests would be performed when it was clinically indicated.

Under the Serious Response Level, more stringent infection control measures will be enforced in public hospitals in Hong Kong, which include no visiting at isolation wards unless on compassionate ground.

For general acute hospitals, visiting hour is limited to no more than two hours a day and two persons at a time. For infirmary/ convalescent hospitals, it is limited to no more than four hours a day and two persons at a time.

And visitors to public hospitals and clinics are required to put on surgical masks and perform hand hygiene before and after visiting patient areas, he said.

According to the spokesman, the Hospital Authority would continue to work closely with Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection in monitoring the latest situation and keep the general public as well as health care workers updated of the development on a regular basis.

There was an outbreak of the H5N1 disease in 1997 in Hong Kong in which six people died. And the latest human bird flu case in Hong Kong was reported in February 2003.