Coronavirus: Hong Kong health officials on full alert as dance club Covid-19 cluster grows
- Of 21 new locally transmitted infections, origins of nine cannot be traced
- Cluster linked to Starlight Dance Club continues to grow with nine more confirmed and seven preliminary positive cases
A surge of Covid-19 infections, with a growing cluster linked to a Wan Chai dance studio, has placed Hong Kong health authorities on full alert.
Twenty-six cases were confirmed in the city on Friday, including 21 locally transmitted infections. The origins of nine local cases could not be traced.
More than 40 initially positive infections, many untraceable, were also reported.
The cluster linked to Starlight Dance Club had nine more confirmed and seven preliminary positive cases. There are now 10 confirmed cases tied to the group.
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch under the Centre for Health Protection, said among the nine new patients linked to Starlight, most had visited the premises on November 14 and some the previous day. One confirmed person had not been to Starlight but had business dealings with a club visitor who was infected, meaning secondary transmission may have occurred.
Among the seven initially positive cases was a club bartender, a family member of an infected person and some patrons who were at the premises on November 12.
“It shows there was some transmission in Starlight. We are now tracking people who visited there on November 13 and 14, and perhaps now we need to trace those who were there on November 12, too,” Chuang said, adding that dozens of people were in the club each day.