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Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongHealth & Environment

New confirmed coronavirus case in Hong Kong, as two more test positive

  • If the two preliminary cases are confirmed, they would bring the city’s tally to 24
  • Latest case involves the wife of the 56-year-old man confirmed as infected on Wednesday

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One of the preliminary cases was at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital. Photo: Martin Chan
Alvin LumandElizabeth Cheung

Two more patients in Hong Kong tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, as another case was confirmed.

The confirmation brought the city’s tally of infections to 22, and it could reach 24 if the two preliminary cases are confirmed. It came after leading microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung declared a community outbreak.

The two patients who tested positive, at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan and Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin, claimed they had no recent travel history.

The confirmed case involved a 55-year-old Hong Kong woman at Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung, according to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable diseases branch of the Centre for Health Protection.

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Chuang revealed that the woman is the wife of the 56-year-old man confirmed as infected on Wednesday.

“So far among the 22 confirmed cases ... we have six family clusters,” Chuang told a press conference on Thursday. “That means that transmission of the virus within a family is very high.”

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The infected couple were in Japan between January 28 and returned to Hong Kong on February 1, when the woman began feeling unwell.

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