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Mr Ming’s Chinese Dining at the K11 Musea shopping centre, site of a Covid-19 cluster, is expected to lose its tenancy agreement. Photo: Winson Wong

Hong Kong’s K11 Musea moves to evict restaurant after Covid-19 outbreak; city confirms 13 new infections

  • The announcement follows IT minister revealing the ‘Leave Home Safe’ app had been used to notify shoppers at the mall’s other stores about need for testing
  • But one health expert has questioned the app’s value, saying it should be replaced with a version that automatically tracks users’ movements
An upscale Hong Kong shopping centre has moved to end its tenancy agreement with a Chinese restaurant at the centre of a recent coronavirus outbreak, while the city confirmed 13 new infections on Tuesday.

Seven of the latest infections were locally transmitted, including four from untraceable sources. Of the six imported cases, Indonesia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates each accounted for two.

More than 10 preliminary-positive infections were recorded, including at least nine that could not be traced. Among them was a 23-year-old saleswoman at a fitness centre in Central who had visited a bar in the Lan Kwai Fong nightlife area.

The planned ousting of Mr Ming’s Chinese Dining from Tsim Sha Tsui’s K11 Musea came as the cluster connected to the eatery had grown to 49 people as of Tuesday.

“The amount of fresh air supply inside Mr Ming’s Chinese Dining was below its licence requirement. We looked into the matter seriously and have decided to terminate the tenancy agreement with the restaurant,” a K11 Musea spokeswoman said on Tuesday afternoon.

A day earlier, government pandemic adviser Professor Yuen Kwok-yung said the restaurant’s fresh air supply was only a third of the expected amount.

Innovation and technology secretary Alfred Sit says the ‘Leave Home Safe’ app has expanded the range of users contacted following the K11 Musea outbreak. Photo: Dickson Lee

The spokeswoman said the restaurant had a separate ventilation system and was not connected to other shops or restaurants in the mall. The shopping centre used a system “close to the highest standards used in hospitals”, she said.

She added that shops were responsible for the design and construction of their own ventilation systems, which had been approved by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

The department said it had inspected the restaurant and would take appropriate action in response to the situation. The maximum penalty for failure to comply with ventilation requirements is a fine of HK$10,000 and up to three months’ imprisonment.

A spokeswoman for the eatery, a joint venture between Ming Fat House and Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant, told the Post they were disappointed with K11 Musea’s decision but declined to comment further.

Earlier, IT minister Alfred Sit Wing-hang said visitors who used the government’s coronavirus risk-exposure app in stores at K11 Musea – not just those who visited the restaurant – had been notified of the need to be tested as soon as possible.

Sit, the secretary for innovation and technology, said shoppers who used the government app at 200 stores in the mall had been notified of their exposure risk.

“Previously, only those people who had been to Mr Ming’s Chinese Dining and scanned the code … would be notified,” he told a local radio show. “But as the situation developed, and after taking expert advice into account, we decided to notify customers at the other shops as well.”

Sit urged anyone receiving a notification to go for screening as soon as possible, later adding that updating the app to include notifications for mandatory testing would take one to two weeks.

Meanwhile, among Tuesday’s untraceable infections was an employee of the University of Science and Technology whose case could be related to a patient who was confirmed with the coronavirus in Shanghai on Sunday. The patient arrived in Hong Kong from Shenzhen using the “Return2hk Scheme” on February 17, and was exempted from undergoing quarantine after testing negative for Covid-19 the day before.

The pair had meetings at the university on February 23 and 25.

“It is possible that the person who was confirmed as infected in Shanghai had onset of symptoms earlier, but he spent some time in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. We cannot rule out that he was infected in Hong Kong,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch.

The latest additions brought the city’s tally of infections to 11,032, with 200 related deaths.

The “super-spreader” cluster at the Chinese restaurant has raised concerns over the efficacy of the government’s risk-exposure app. Although one of the conditions of relaxing social-distancing measures was mandating all venues to display a QR code so customers could log their visits through the app, the government also said visitors could write down their details instead.

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As of Tuesday, 11 people who visited Mr Ming’s Chinese Restaurant remained untraceable. Officials earlier suggested contact details left by the diners could be faked.

Respiratory medicine specialist Dr Leung Chi-chiu on Tuesday said the government should quickly introduce a feature on the “Leave Home Safe” app that automatically recorded where users had been, including on public transport, and incentivise more people to use it.

He added that the government app should also include a record of users’ contact details to help health authorities track them down in the event of a possible outbreak. Names, addresses and phone numbers are not currently necessary to sign up.

“The ‘Leave Home Safe’ app should not be mistaken for a contact-tracing tool. It’s merely an electronic logbook for users to keep track of their whereabouts and receive notifications if they were at the same location as an infected person at the same time,” he said.

“The app should be made mandatory in high-risk venues such as bars and karaoke lounges to enhance contact-tracing efforts. Authorities should also provide alternatives to the app, like electronic tokens, so those who do not have smartphones can also be traced.”

The restaurant industry, meanwhile, said it was difficult to verify the contact details customers left if they chose not to use the app.

“We don’t have the manpower to manually check people’s identity cards and phone numbers. Doing so could lead to many arguments and fights,” said Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades. “We’re not in charge of enforcement. The easiest solution would be mandating the public to use the ‘Leave Home Safe’ app.”

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Restaurateur Simon Wong Kit-lung, who runs 39 eateries under the LH Group, agreed it was not the industry’s responsibility to check customers’ contact details.

“All we can do is make sure that customers have filled in the form completely and trust that the information they wrote down is correct,” he said.

“It’s important for customers to understand that this is a measure to help protect public health. Ultimately, they have to think about whether they want to be contacted if they’re at risk of infection.”

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