An official from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department on Friday warned people not to look monkeys in the eye because they could see it as a threat.

The advice came after a 37-year-old man was attacked by a monkey at a country park and later tested positive for the rare Herpes B virus. He is now in a serious condition in hospital.

Speaking to RTHK, senior fauna conservation officer Shek Chung-tong also urged people not to feed monkeys.

"Don't take out food to eat in front of monkeys. Instead of holding plastic bags, store them in a backpack. Because these monkeys were often fed by people, and they might think you are feeding them if you're holding food or plastic bags. They might try to snatch it from you if you don't give it to them," he said.

"Avoid making eye contact with monkeys as it can be seen as provocative. Also, don't approach monkeys directly as it could scare them. They may overreact when they get scared."

Shek said Hong Kong saw around 200 to 300 "monkey nuisance" cases annually in the last three years, adding that officials will step up education, as well as efforts to sterilise monkeys.

Meanwhile, Jan Chan who founded the outdoor exploration group HK Discovery, said monkeys became more aggressive when novice hikers fed them during the Covid pandemic.

Chan told the same RTHK programme that young monkeys are more likely to seek food from humans and people should not let their guard down just because they look cute.