HK Frees 300 After Week-Long Hotel Quarantine

Guests clapped and screamed as they left the Metropark hotel after police lifted the lockdown.

Hong Kong authorities freed nearly 300 guests and staff of a hotel on Friday evening after quarantining them for a week in an attempt to contain a new influenza virus.

Guests clapped and screamed as they left the Metropark hotel after police lifted the lockdown at 8:30 p.m. (0030 GMT).

Punching his fist into the air, Kevin Ireland, a businessman from India exclaimed: "I'm out, I didn't like it, not at all but I am very relieved now."

But Ireland added that he was very satisfied with the way the government treated him.

"It was very boring," quipped Francisco Javier Boada from Spain.

While many guests were initially outraged to be quarantined for a week in the hotel where a Mexican man confirmed as the city's first and only H1N1 flu victim had stayed, some learnt how to let their hair down.

On Thursday night, many guests ripped off face masks to dance and party the night away with beer and wine in the downstairs lobby, while toasting reporters camped outside through large windows.

Speaking to reporters just before the quarantine was lifted, Health Minister York Chow said: "Their health is normal and they have all received health certificates ... I want to thank them on behalf of all Hong Kong people for helping us ensure that Hong Kong is safe."

Although some people have ridiculed Hong Kong's move as being extreme, many public health experts have backed the quarantine, saying firm, drastic measures were needed to stop the spread of the disease.

"Next time a person comes with the virus, we will still aim for containment," Chow added.

The South China Morning Post newspaper reported that at least two new couples had formed in the hotel quarantine, along with other tales of intrigue on the edge of Hong Kong's Wanchai district, made famous by the 1960s movie "The World of Suzie Wong", starring William Holden.

At least one of the women trapped in the hotel was believed to be a prostitute -- not unheard of in the pleasure district known for its bargirls from Thailand and the Philippines and popular with visiting U.S. sailors.

"She remained stuck in one of the hotel's 173 rooms with the guest who brought her in, because the management refused her a separate room," the Post reported, citing unnamed hotel guests.

While authorities were praised by experts for their tough quarantine measures to prevent a possible community spread of the H1N1 virus, hotel guests were initially confused and outraged given the perceived risk of cross-infection.

Since then, no new cases have arisen, easing anxieties.

The Hong Kong government has also been on a public relations blitz, offering to foot all extra costs, and plying guests with freebies like T-shirts and tickets to attractions such as the local Disney theme park, while offering two-nights' free accommodation on their release.

On Thursday, Hong Kong authorities released its first batch of 35 people, most of whom had come into contact with the infected Mexican man on his flight to Hong Kong from Shanghai.