Sars case alert in Hong Kong

Authorities in Hong Kong yesterday raised the first stage of a three-level Sars alert system after confirmation of a case in Taiwan involving a medical researcher.

An emergency response team of health, welfare and other officials had been alerted, the Government said.

Taiwan health authorities confirmed that a man working at a military medical research centre had contracted Sars. It is the island's first case of the killer respiratory disease in five months.

The 44-year-old man caught the virus in a laboratory on December 5 while conducting an experiment on Sars, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.