Table 4.

Infection prevention and control measures when assessing patients with complicated influenza51, 90, 91

Clinicians should pay attention to cases of community‐acquired pneumonia and patients’ travel history for early case detection Clinicians should remain vigilant against avian influenza and elicit any relevant clinical and epidemiological information from patients (fever, travel history, occupation, contact history and clustering) Standard, contact and droplet precautions are recommended for routine management of patients hospitalized for influenza. Droplet precaution (by wearing a surgical mask within 1 m of the patient) and contact precaution (by wearing gown and gloves on entering the room and removing them on leaving) when providing care to all patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection. Contact precautions and eye protection should be added when caring for probable or confirmed cases of avian influenza infection Risk assessment should be conducted before performing AGP. For cases with severe influenza, it is advisable to perform AGP in an airborne isolation room. When an airborne isolation room is not available, the following minimum hourly averaged ventilation rates should be provided for natural ventilation: 160 L/s/patient (hourly average ventilation rate) for airborne precaution rooms (with a minimum of 80 L/s/patient) (note that this only applies to new healthcare facilities and major renovations); 60 L/s/patient for general wards and outpatient departments; and 2.5 L/s/m3 for corridors and other transient spaces without a fixed number of patients In view of the increasing influenza activity during winter season and the emerging threat of avian influenza, all healthcare workers and visitors are recommended to wear surgical masks when entering patient care areas and strengthen hand hygiene

AGP, aerosol‐generating procedure.