The Health Bureau today (9 April) obtained information from Guangdong concerning a Canadian Chinese couple who had stayed in Macao in February and was hospitalized in Guangzhou after, suspected to have contracted SARS.

According to the press release from the Health Bureau, the couple had departed from Canada at 18 February and arrived at Hong Kong on the following day, after stopping over in the United States and Japan.

The couple had stayed in Hong Kong for three days before coming to Macao by ferry on 22 February and stay at their sister’s residence. On 25 February, the two starts to have symptoms of headache, fever and fatigue and had consulted a practitioner of Chinese medicine.

On 1 March, the couple left Macao for Guangzhou and stay at their residence at Baiyun district of Guangzhou

They was hospitalized on 6 March, suspected to have contracted SARS and was discharged on 22 March after treatment.

According to the press release, since the time that the couple had fallen ill was 45 days ago, which is much longer than the incubation period of the disease, it is not likely that they would have transmitted the disease to anyone in Macao.

Nevertheless, the Health Bureau would like to contact the family of the couple, with whom they stay in Macao, in order to follow up on their health condition during this period.

Meanwhile, the ten cabin crews on board in the Air Macao airplane, which reportedly had taken a suspected SARS sufferer, did not have any symptoms during a 10-day isolation period that ended today, according to the press release.

Two consultations had been given on 8 and 9 April, by the medical consultation counters at the Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal and the Border Gate Checkpoint between Macao and Zhuhai respectively.

The Health bureau would maintain the preventive measures although there is no case of SARS found in Macao until now.