Police wearing surgical masks sealed off the Metropark hotel on Friday night after test results on the 25-year-old Mexican man were confirmed, ordering approximately 200 guests and 100 staff to stay in the hotel for the next seven days.

The measures taken by the authorities in Hong Kong underscore the concern here about the new flu and the confirmed case, Asia’s first. Hong Kong was badly hit by the SARS virus in 2003 and has had many episodes of H5N1 bird flu for more than a decade.

Some are saying this is overstepping the bounds and carrying authority too far. Is it? Earlier this week we talked about the prospects of martial law being enforced and whether or not governments had the legal authority to do that.

It appears that the voracity of this influenza is much milder than first thought but the World Health Organization is still issuing warnings of caution and telling people not to become complacent.

Tom Remington