HONG KONG: Wan Chai prepares to breathe a deep sigh of relief as the first assault of the H1N1 virus draws to its close. Even with the flu scare, life in the popular bar and restaurant area carried on with much the same vitality as always - with a couple of notable additions.

"Precaution banners were posted and people are wearing masks but life is as usual," said Mr Hong, who works at the Horse and Carriage Restaurant at Wan Chai, the district where Hong Kong's first H1N1 influenza victim was reported last Friday.

The first case of infection in Hong Kong was a Mexican who arrived last Thursday and checked into the Metropark Hotel.

After he complained of feeling ill, he was whisked off to the hospital, and later confirmed as a carrier of the H1N1 virus. The hotel, its workers and guests were quarantined.

Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang raised the territory's pandemic alert level from serious to emergency half an hour after the first case was confirmed.

The Horse and Carriage Restaurant, a block from the Metropark Hotel, posted a notice on the front door, reading: to fight H1N1, the place is fully sanitized.

The restaurant bought masks for its staff in case the flu spread and they've sanitized the place twice a day since the one case was confirmed. "We haven't worn masks so far because we do not want to frighten the customers," said Mr Hong who has worked at the restaurant ever since the breakout of SARS in 2003.

Hong's wife, alarmed that the first case of the flu had turned up in Wan Chai, urged him not to go to work. "It was worrisome at first because you didn't know how many people around you had been infected," Mr Hong said.

Last weekend, usually peak time of the week for restaurants, the number of diners plunged almost 30 percent. Not only the restaurants looked vacant, people seemed to be edging away from the entire neighbourhood, according to Mr Hong.

"Everything seems returning to normal since people are aware that the influenza is curable and it's not as serious as the lethal SARS," Mr Hong said.

Mexican restaurants are apparently hit harder in the city-wide flu scare, with their tables even more sparsely populated than the tables at neighboring establishments.

The spokesman for a Mexican restaurant in Wan Chai said the premises were now sanitized every two or three hours. According to the restaurant, 20 percent of its customers are Mexican.

But not everyone has shied away. One young couple dining at the restaurant said, "A Mexican restaurant does not necessarily mean the place is H1N1 related."

"The H1N1 influenza did affect our business but not so much as the financial crisis and SARS when people dine out less often than at the normal times," said Gareth Moore, regional manager of the Eclipse Restaurant Group who owns a Mexican restaurant in Central, the Hong Kong's economic hub.

"However, it could be damaging if the virus comes back and becomes as serious as SARS," he added.

(HK Edition 05/08/2009 page1)