THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 26ги AUGUST, 1899.
GENERAL DEPARTMENT.
NOTIFICATION.
Dated Rangoon, the 20th July 1899.
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No. 129.- In exercise of the power conferred by section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and by the Notification of the Government of India, in the Home Department, No. 302, dated the 4th February 1897, the Lieutenant-Governor of Burma is pleased to prescribe, as a temporary measure, the following rules for quarantine against plague and for the medical inspection, isolation, observation and surveillance of persons suffering from, or suspected of, being infected with plague. These rules shall take effect from the 20th July 1899 in the Port of Mergui.
I.-Definitions.
means the Health Officer of the Port of 1. Health Officer.-In these rules "Health Officer' Mergui, and includes any person appointed by name or in virtue of his office to perform the duties of Health Officer.
2. Infected ship.-Any ship with plague on board, or on which one or more cases have taken place within 12 days before her arrival, will be considered infectedl.
3. Suspected ship.-Any ship on board which there has been a case of plague at the time of departure or during the voyage, but on which no fresh case has occurred for 12 days before her arrival, will be considered suspected.
4. Healthy ship.-Any ship, even though coming from an infected port, which has had no death or case of plague on board, either before departure, during the voyage, or on arrival, will be considered- healthy.
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5. Observation.-The term "observation means that the persons subjected to it will be segregated in a lazaretto or isolation camp till they have obtained free pratique.
6. Surveillance.--The term surveillance" means that the persons subjected to it will not be isolated; they will at once obtain free pratique, but on arriving at their destination they will be kept under medical supervision.
7. Infected port-Means any port which the Government of Burma may declare infected.
11.--Hoisting of yellow flag.-The commander of every vessel, including buggalows or other native craft-(a) arriving from an infected port or from any port in India, or (b) having plague on board, or (c) on board of which one or more cases of plague have occurred within 12 days of her arrival, shall, on entering port limits, hoist a yellow flag, or if the vessel arrives at night, show three lights (red, white, and red) at the main, and indicate by signal the port from which she has come, and shall keep up such flag by day or lights by night and signal until permitted in writing by the Health Officer to haul them down. The Health Officer on going alongside such vessel shall direct the flag or lights prescribed above to be hoisted if such action has not already been taken.
III.—Prohibition of communication.The coinmander shall not, without first having obtained permission as hereinafter provided, allow any but oral communication with the shore or with any other vessel or boat, excepting only with the boat conveying the Health Officer and Preventive Officer, and in that case communication shall be limited to receiving on board the Health Officer and Preventive Officer.
IV.—Inspection by Health Officer.The Health Officer, as soon as practicable after the anchoring of any steam vessel within port limits, shall visit it and ascertain by enquiry from the commander or the medical officer on board, or other sources of information, and by such personal examination as he may think necessary, whether any person on board is suffering or has suffered from plague. For this demand a declaration on oath from the doctor of the ship or failing him from the purpose he may commander that there has been no case of plague on the ship since her departure.
V.- Eules relating to infected ships.
1. All vessels, whether infected or otherwise, may anchor at the usual anchorage and shall then await the orders of the l'ort Health Officer.
2. Any sick on board shall be disembarked and isolated at the place appointed for this purpose under the orders of the Health Officer.
3. The other persons on board (except those, if any, whose presence is necessary for the care of the vessel) shall also be disembarked and kept under observation for a period varying, in the discretion of the Health Officer, according to the sanitary condition of the ship and the date of the last case.