Hong Kong third wave: growing Covid-19 clusters at two wet markets spark fears of wider outbreaks as city records 80 new cases and four deaths

Name: There may never be a 'silver bullet' for coronavirus, WHO chief says
Uploaded: 2020-08-04T04:38:51.000Z
Duration: 46 s
Description: There may never be a 'silver bullet' for coronavirus, WHO chief says

Five cases have been linked to four fish stalls at Hung Hom market while 10 others, including cleaners and workers at stores, have also been infected

Health officials worry whether transmission of the virus has occurred in the same way as in markets in Wuhan and Beijing

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Professor Yuen Kwok-yung inspects Hung Hom market on Tuesday. Photo: Felix Wong

Victor Ting,Gigi Choy,Lilian ChengandKanis Leung

Published: 12:38pm, 4 Aug 2020Updated: 9:15am, 5 Aug 2020

Growing clusters of Covid-19 infections at two wet markets have sparked fears of wider outbreaks in Hong Kong similar to ones in Wuhan and Beijing, as the city reported another 80 coronavirus cases on Tuesday and four more deaths.

Health officials and an infectious disease expert made comparisons between fish stalls in Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan – which have been linked to seven infections, including three on Tuesday – with the Huanan and Xinfadi markets in the mainland cities.

Altogether, five cases have been linked to four fish stalls at Hung Hom market and two cases linked to two stalls in To Kwa Wan. Ten others in Hung Hom market, including cleaners and workers at frozen meat and dry goods stores, have also been infected.

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There may never be a 'silver bullet' for coronavirus, WHO chief says

Many of the first reported Covid-19 cases in the pandemic were linked to Wuhan’s Huanan seafood market while the coronavirus was found on a chopping board used for salmon in the capital’s Xinfadi food centre, which was tied to a resurgence of infections in June.

“We are worried whether a similar [transmission] situation has occurred in Hong Kong,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch.

“Because the stalls are quite close to each other, maybe they [the cases] are spread by human-to-human transmission.”

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, who inspected the Hung Hom market on Tuesday, said that of five possible theories of transmission, three were most likely.

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