Coronavirus: more than 200 tested after possible transmission at Hong Kong public hospital

Nearly all affected patients and medical staff return negative result after elderly stroke victim confirmed as infected with Covid-19

The scare comes as city records 28 new cases, one of the lowest figures all week, but experts say too earlier to say outbreak is coming under control

3-MIN READ3-MIN

A woman wears a mask while walking in North Point with an image of the Hong Kong skyline behind her. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 4:59pm, 5 Apr 2020Updated: 4:42am, 6 Apr 2020

Hong Kong has tested more than 200 patients and medical staff at a public hospital who were deemed at risk after an elderly stroke victim contracted the coronavirus, with nearly all returning a negative result.

The tests came as the city recorded another 28 Covid-19 infections on Sunday, taking the total to 890, with all but five having a history of overseas travel. That is the second-lowest daily total during a week where the figure has climbed as high as 59.

But authorities cautioned it was too early to ascertain a pattern. “The cases in the past day or two do not point to a falling trend,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Centre for Health Protection. “We need to look at the longer term.”

The police force is also scrambling to get ahead of a possible outbreak at a station after a second officer tested positive for the virus on Saturday, with up to 100 colleagues headed into quarantine, according to a source.

Among the latest cases is the mother of a six-week baby boy who previously tested positive. She began to show symptoms when about to enter a quarantine centre on Friday, Chuang said.

The infant was confirmed as the city’s youngest Covid-19 patient on Wednesday, with authorities saying he had been held by a family friend, also a confirmed patient, who visited a bar with a history of infections.

Authorities closed drinking establishments across the city on Friday, a decision that Health Secretary Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee said was made after roughly 70 locally transmitted cases were tied to a handful of venues in some of Hong Kong’s busiest nightlife areas.