Hong Kong third wave: 69 new Covid-19 cases confirmed as another three elderly patients die
- Latest cases include two Indonesian domestic workers who are linked to another previously infected helper
- Three patients, aged 74 to 88, die from the coronavirus, bringing the total number of fatalities to 66
That came as Covid-19 killed another three elderly patients, bringing the city’s death toll to 66.
Of the latest infections, 65 were locally transmitted, including 32 that were connected to previous cases. They included a maintenance worker at Kwai Tsing Container Terminals, which have been linked to at least 17 infections. The employee was found to be infected after health authorities conducted testing there.
Two Indonesian domestic helpers who had stayed at a Tsuen Wan hostel with a previously infected maid were also among the cases.
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A family member of the person in charge of a dormitory in Cheung Hing Mansion, in Mong Kok, where another infected helper had stayed, was also confirmed with the disease. But the authorities were still looking for other domestic workers who had stayed there.
“The dormitory didn’t keep any records … [the person in charge] didn’t admit renting out places in the dormitory to others,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, adding that police and other government departments were following up on the case.
In a reply to the Post, the Home Affairs Department said the flat was not a guest house licensed under its Office of the Licensing Authority, while Chuang has previously said the site was not accommodation managed by maid agencies.
The department said all guest houses, except hostels for employees or those which were rented each time for a continuous period of 28 days or more, required a licence to operate.
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It said its licensing office had not received any requests to follow up on the Mong Kok flat, adding its office would conduct an inspection and investigation upon receiving complaints of an unlicensed guest house, and prosecute where there was compelling evidence for the court.
Police declined to comment on individual cases.
The city has so far recorded 4,312 confirmed coronavirus cases. Fewer than 20 people tested preliminary positive for the virus pending confirmation.
It was the 11th straight day the daily case count trended below 100, after a 12-day run of triple-digit surges.
Three Covid-19 patients, aged from 74 to 88, died on Thursday. They included two residents from Cornwall Elderly’s Home (Golden Branch) in Tuen Mun, where 10 coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded so far. The other patient, 74, lived at Choi Wan (II) Estate in Wong Tai Sin.
The government announced on Thursday that work-from-home arrangement for civil servants would be extended until August 23. Apart from workers providing urgent and necessary public services, other government employees would work from home.
The temporary plan to resume transfer services from, but not to, the mainland, came as Chinese aviation authorities continued to severely limit international travel to restrict imported cases of Covid-19.
Hong Kong airport has allowed flight transfers since June 1, but not to or from the mainland. Previously, all transit services were suspended from March 25.
Meanwhile, three experts said they were against a proposal by some pro-government lawmakers to introduce a “health code” scheme, under which people who tested negative for the virus would be given a digital certificate and exempted from some social-distancing rules.
University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung, Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a government public health adviser, and respiratory medicine specialist Dr Leung Chi-chiu did not think the scheme was feasible.
Hui said test results could only reflect a person’s health status at a point in time. The person could contract the virus later, making the code meaningless.
Chuang, meanwhile, advised the public to wash their hands after handling chilled meat, following the Shenzhen authorities finding the coronavirus on the surface of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil.
The Centre for Food Safety said the batch of chicken wings in question was not sold in Hong Kong. But as a precautionary measure, it had enhanced the sampling of frozen chicken meat from Brazil for coronavirus testing. The centre also suspended the licence application for the import of poultry meat into Hong Kong from the Brazilian plant involved.
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In other developments, Cao Sujie, of the mainland testing firm BGI Genomics, who is leading the Hong Kong team’s roll-out later this month of the city’s universal Covid-19 screening programme, told Xinhua news agency that makeshift laboratories set up in Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Sports Centre in Sai Ying Pun could handle up to 500,000 samples a day.
He said all the groundwork had been laid for the first five of the 16 laboratories sited there, with testing machines expected to be brought in this week.
Cao added 600 staff would work three shifts a day, and throat swabs would be used for testing.
The team leader also said technicians would not be able to obtain personal data because the containers would only be marked by a single code.
All negative samples would be destroyed, with the positive ones sent to the Department of Health for confirmation.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, the government said the screening programme would not involve any privacy issues, as the sample bottles did not carry any personal data.
It said personal information collected would not be sent outside Hong Kong, and all data would be deleted within a month of the programme’s completion.
It also clarified that those who tested negative in the screening would not be given a health code or be allowed to go to specific places at a certain time.
