( CNN ) -- Waving and cheering like survivors of some kind of disaster , 200 guests of a Hong Kong business hotel who were confined for a week due to a swine flu scare left the building Friday . The guests and hotel employees were kept in the Metropark Hotel for a week . Businessmen , families and tourists marched out of the Metropark Hotel in the Wanchai bar district at 8:30 p.m. ( 8:30 a.m . ET ) Friday when the quarantine was lifted . None of them had the H1N1 virus , as swine flu is technically called , but health authorities imposed the lockdown May 1 after another hotel guest from Mexico was diagnosed with the disease . Dragging luggage and carrying purses and backpacks , they were applauded and cheered by hotel workers and local officials , who formed what looked like a receiving line to send them off . `` I am very happy ! '' one man shouted as he left . Watch more about the guests ' release » . Throngs of photographers and reporters stood behind metal barricades to capture images of their departure . The worst part of their confinement ? `` The food . And no wine ! '' said a French woman . Several of the departing guests were headed to the airport but , surprisingly , the majority took up the government 's offer of free accommodation at two other hotels so they could see the city they never got to visit . The quarantine was imposed more than a week ago after the 25-year-old guest from Mexico tested positive for swine flu . Hong Kong health officials -- unwilling to see a repeat of the SARS epidemic in 2004 that killed nearly 300 people -- placed the hotel on lockdown . Images from a British hotel guest » . Coincidentally the Mexican patient was released from the Princess Margaret Hospital Friday , nearly an hour after the guests who had been quarantined at the hotel , a hospital spokesman said . Deputy Director of Home Affairs Adeline Wong said in a statement that after a final medical check , hotel guests would be given medical certificates allowing them to travel . But the hotel is not open for business as usual after their departure . The building will be closed for intense cleaning and disinfecting , according to Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Dr. York Chow . About 100 hotel staff members were also confined to the premises due to the quarantine . During that time , many guests stayed cocooned in their tiny rooms , flipping through channels on the television or staying connected with their work colleagues via Internet chats . They all had to take a 10-day dose of anti-viral medication . None tested positive for the virus . With no pool to lounge by and just one restaurant to pick from , guests milled about in the lobby to pick up food or get their temperatures taken once a day . `` We go down to the lobby for food and then back to the room to eat your food , '' Leslie Carr , a British man , said Thursday . Outside , bars and clubs lay only a short walk away . But police in face masks guarded the doors , barring exit , as packs of reporters and camera crews peered through the hotel 's glass windows . CNN 's Pauline Chiou and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this report .
200 guests of Hong Kong hotel freed after being confined a week due to swine flu . The group was quarantined at the five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel in central Beijing for three weeks before they were allowed out on Friday and Saturday. Hotel to remained closed for intensive cleaning and disinfecting , official says .