Coronavirus: Hong Kong confirms three new cases, as hospital staff say patients violated mandatory quarantine to visit doctors

One woman newly confirmed with the virus attended a family dinner party with 29 others, five of whom are among those infected

But two infected family members also lived at the recently evacuated Tsing Yi housing block, leaving doubts about where they contracted the virus

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A man is in critical condition after suffering shortness of breath for more than 10 days and has been intubated in Princess Margaret Hospital. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:06pm, 14 Feb 2020Updated: 1:58pm, 15 Feb 2020

Hong Kong reported three more confirmed coronavirus infections on Friday, bringing the city’s total to 56, even as evidence emerged that some residents recently returned from mainland China were flouting the new mandatory home quarantine policy.

One of the three new cases, a 41-year-old woman who lives in Shek O and works in Quarry Bay, attended a 29-person family dinner at a North Point restaurant on January 26.

At the dinner were five others since confirmed to have the virus, health officials said, including a couple who lived in the same Tsing Yi public housing block that was evacuated on Tuesday after a leaking toilet vent pipe raised concerns the virus had travelled between flats.

Officials now say they are unsure whether the couple’s infection traces back to the dinner or to the leak, as first suspected. The couple had lived with one of the two confirmed cases at Hong Mei House, the man’s 62-year-old mother.

“It is still under investigation whether it is an environmental reason or the dinner that caused the transmission,” Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), said at a Friday news conference.

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Coronavirus: Hong Kong confirms three new cases, as hospital staff say patients violated mandatory quarantine to visit doctors

One woman newly confirmed with the virus attended a family dinner party with 29 others, five of whom are among those infected But two infected family members also lived at the recently evacuated Tsing Yi housing block, leaving doubts about where they contracted the virus

One woman newly confirmed with the virus attended a family dinner party with 29 others, five of whom are among those infected

But two infected family members also lived at the recently evacuated Tsing Yi housing block, leaving doubts about where they contracted the virus