Coronavirus: two Hong Kong schools temporarily closed as health authorities reject doctor’s suggestion city already amid Covid-19 fourth wave
- Adjoining campuses in Tuen Mun temporarily shut down after student confirmed infected, while cluster grows at Kwai Chung home for disabled
- Among Monday’s new 11 cases, five locally transmitted, while HKU professor says rebound in cases means new coronavirus wave ahead of schedule
Two more residents from the Home of Treasure, a care facility for the disabled in Kwai Chung, were also among Monday’s 11 new coronavirus cases, five of which were locally transmitted.
Pointing to a rebound in confirmed cases, University of Hong Kong Professor Ho Pak-leung, an infectious disease specialist, said a new wave most had forecast for winter had already arrived and could rapidly worsen.
“Hong Kong’s cases have certainly rebounded, and in October, we have already entered the fourth wave. There are 49 cases this month so far [as of Sunday] – mostly in clusters and with unknown sources,” he told a radio programme.
“Before the epidemic worsens, the government should step up inspections of high-risk places, such as restaurants and bars. If relevant places have not abided by the rules, immediate prosecutions should be made.”
But Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said the city’s third wave of infections “was not over yet” when asked about Ho’s statement at a regular press conference. She did not elaborate further.
Among Monday’s infections was an 18-year-old student at the Youth College in Tuen Mun. The student was one of eight people at a September 27 gathering at the Gateway Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui attended by two people previously confirmed to be infected. Both were linked to the China Secret bar cluster. The other five were to be placed in quarantine.