Hong Kong  - Asia's first case of swine flu has been confirmed in Hong Kong, the territory's leader, Donald Tsang, announced Friday.

   The case involves a Mexican patient who travelled to Hong Kong from Shanghai and was staying at a hotel in the city's Wan Chai district.

   The patient has been taken to a hospital in the city and was in a stable condition Friday evening. The hotel has been quarantined with tourists barred from leaving, Tsang said.

   A meeting of top government officials was held in Hong Kong Friday afternoon after the case was detected.

   In response to the news, Hong Kong has raised its swine-flu alert level from "serious" to "emergency." Details of the heightened measures were due to be announced later.

   Ironically, the first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in Hong Kong in 2003 was traced back to a Chinese patient also at a hotel in Kowloon.

   A total of 299 people died and about 1,800 were infected with the SARS virus in the densely populated city of 7 million.