Coronavirus: four more confirmed cases in Hong Kong including Diamond Princess cruise passenger, 16, who is city’s youngest Covid-19 patient
- Teenager and his sister were evacuated from Japan on third flight government had chartered to bring home cruise passengers
- Six infections take total in city to 91, with another probable case reported
A 16-year-old boy from the ill-fated Diamond Princess cruise has become the first child in Hong Kong to be diagnosed with the coronavirus, as the city reported six more confirmed cases and a probable one on Wednesday, health officials said.
The teenager was one of six patients confirmed to be infected with Covid-19 on Wednesday, the Centre for Health Protection said in a press conference, taking the city’s official total to 91, with two related fatalities.
The siblings were evacuated from Japan on February 23 on the third flight the government had chartered to bring home cruise passengers. Also on the flight were officials who took part in the repatriation operation, including Director of Immigration Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Undersecretary for Security Sonny Au Chi-kwong and officers from the Department of Health and Hospital Authority.
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, the centre’s head of the communicable disease branch, said passengers on the flight were not considered close contacts of the infected cases.
“The seats were quite apart and all passengers wore masks. Health care workers and other officers also took sufficient infection control measures to prevent the emergence of a large group of close contacts if some passengers confirmed to be infected,” she said.
That came as the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau announced on Wednesday registration details of the first batch of chartered flights to bring home Hongkongers stranded in Hubei province, epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. The first flights would mainly help those who were stuck in Wuhan, the province’s hard-hit capital.
Only those with Hong Kong identity cards and showing no signs of fever or other infections would be allowed to board, and they would be quarantined for 14 days upon returning to Hong Kong.