Hong Kong coronavirus: Mandatory testing ordered as clusters grow, while 104 new cases confirmed
- Government to require residents and workers affected by five outbreaks to undergo screening
- But authorities decide against invoking new lockdown powers, even while admitting some residents at one stricken estate had left their homes
The screening requirement was imposed as officials confirmed 104 new infections, more than a third of which were untraceable.
Amid mounting alarm over the expanding clusters at housing estates, a construction site and a major department store, health experts were divided on whether the government should invoke a newly gazetted law to seal off the buildings and force everyone deemed to be at risk to get tested.
While some have argued lockdowns would stop unknowing carriers of the virus from entering the wider community, others have warned the extraordinary curb must be used with extreme caution.
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A leading health official said the government would employ the new power selectively.
“There are many situations where the law can be used,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Centre for Health Protection.
“It does not mean we have to use it every time. Our consideration is that we need people to get tested. There is a chance that after they are tested the first time, they might need to do so again after two weeks. So how long should we lock people down for?”
Authorities have required mandatory testing for residents of Block 8 at the Kwai Shing West public housing estate in Kwai Chung, where at least 22 people have been infected. An outbreak initially limited to the fifth floor has rapidly spread to at least four others. Experts on Wednesday estimated about a quarter of the block’s 3,100 residents had not been tested.
Chuang conceded the government had not conveyed the severity of the situation to that community.
“We decided to force residents to be tested because some had left the housing block already,” she said. “By making it mandatory, we hope residents will take the issue seriously.”
The screening order also applied to residents of Kam Wai House at Kam Fung Court in Ma On Shan, where five residents from four flats were infected.
Staff who had worked on the first and second floors of the Yata department store in Sha Tin must also undergo testing after four employees were among the confirmed cases. Another six workers at the retail complex have been listed as preliminary-positive.
The fourth cluster targeted by authorities centred on a construction site at the Tseung Kwan O–Lam Tin Tunnel where one worker was confirmed infected and five others were suspected of having Covid-19.
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Chuang believed the route of transmission might have been cargo containers the labourers used to change clothes. About 1,500 other workers at the site will be required to undergo screening.
Officials also ordered late on Wednesday night mandatory testing for residents of Block 6 at Richland Gardens, a subsidised housing estate in Kowloon Bay. Seven infections have been tied to the block. The first case emerged there on November 23, and at least four flats were now involved. The testing order covered hundreds of residents, the government said.
Of the 104 confirmed cases on Wednesday, 99 were local, 35 of which were untraceable, while the remaining five infections were imported. More than 60 other people were listed as preliminary-positive.
The escalating fourth wave has pushed Hong Kong’s daily caseload into the triple digits in recent weeks and forced the government to respond more aggressively. It toughened an existing law covering mandatory testing to include the power to lock down areas, but only under specific conditions.
Invoking the measure requires either a “considerable” number of people who have recently contracted the virus to have been at the location lately or for an infected person who had been in close contact with a considerable number of others to have been on the premises.
University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung earlier said the government should lock down Block 8 at Kwai Shing West Estate to ensure all residents were tested.
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“Of course [mandatory testing] has come a bit late, but the government can still fix the situation … and declare the block an epidemic area for lockdown,” Ho said.
But Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert at Chinese University who advises the government on the coronavirus, warned it was difficult from an epidemiological point of view to determine the number of cases needed to trigger such a move.
“It has to be judged on a case-by-case basis, taking into account other factors such as how widespread and diverse the cases are,” he said.
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If the response rate to voluntary testing in an area was high, then the measure would not be necessary, Hui argued.
Respiratory medicine specialist Dr Leung Chi-chiu said mandatory testing for the residential buildings where clusters had emerged was appropriate, but he saw no need to lock down the buildings at this stage. He could not discern any special transmission risks, for instance, at the estate in Ma On Shan.
“No vertical transmission was seen and the infections didn’t seem to involve any pipes or internal spreading,” he said. “It seems there isn’t a super-spreading effect at the moment.”
Leung acknowledged it was too late for a lockdown at Block 8 to be effective.
“Most testing has now been done and most cases have been identified,” he said, predicting that only a few more infections would be uncovered.
Other areas hit by the latest infections included the temporary quarantine site at AsiaWorld-Expo, where another staff member was confirmed as having the virus, taking the total at the facility to 13.
Cases were also recorded at more care homes for the elderly and people with disabilities. The Pak Lok Nursing Home in San Po Kong and Fong Shu Chuen Day Activity Centre and Hostel in Shau Kei Wan each recorded one additional infection, while an employee at the Chi Lin Nunnery Chi Lin Care and Attention Home in Diamond Hill was among the confirmed cases.
Hong Kong’s biggest cluster, involving dozens of dancing and singing venues, grew by another 12 cases, pushing the number of related infections past 690.
Two more people succumbed to the disease, an 85-year-old chronically ill woman who had been moved from AsiaWorld-Expo to Queen Mary Hospital, and a 75-year-old woman, who was also suffering from a severe illness.
The city’s total coronavirus tally stands at 7,179 cases, with 114 related deaths.
Meanwhile, a mandatory testing scheme for all taxi drivers has started, although the government has not yet clarified how compliance will be ensured. More testing kits will also be distributed at 10 MTR stations starting from Thursday, taking the daily supply from 10,000 to 14,000.
Dr Sara Ho, a chief manager at the Hospital Authority, also said dozens of patients had been issued mandatory testing orders by doctors but had not yet returned the samples. She urged them to hand back the specimens as soon as possible.
