Coronavirus: Hong Kong doctor who monitored travellers at airport among 39 new Covid-19 cases
- Doctor’s infection prompts health authorities to review guidelines on protective gear for medical staff working at airport
- 30 of the patients had recently travelled outside Hong Kong, including seven students returning to the city from overseas; total tally rises to 356
Hong Kong recorded 39 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, including a doctor tasked with issuing quarantine orders to visitors at the airport, taking the total tally of confirmed cases to 356.
The 54-year-old female doctor’s infection has prompted the health authorities to review their guidelines on protective gear for medical staff working at Hong Kong International Airport, after officials admitted that she was only wearing basic equipment at work.
Other new patients included a Cathay Pacific flight attendant who had travelled to Britain; a Cathay manager who had visited Britain and Spain; and three domestic workers who had also been abroad, two of them with their employers to Turkey or Britain.
Dr Wong Ka-hing, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said he could not rule out the possibility that the airport doctor was infected while at work.
“Over the past few days or a week or so, a lot of people were coming back from overseas and a lot of them came from countries or areas that have seen an explosive rise in new infections,” he said.