Coronavirus: quarantine for hundreds after Hong Kong records first untraceable local case involving Covid-19 mutated strain, health officials warn of ‘grim situation’
- The patient, a domestic helper, has not travelled outside the city since arriving in 2019, health officials say
- Authorities cordoned off Block 11 of Carmel Cove at Caribbean Coast housing estate at 7pm for overnight testing of residents
Authorities cordoned off Tower 11 of Carmel Cove at the Caribbean Coast housing estate at 7pm on Thursday for a lockdown exercise expected to end at around 7am on Friday after testing of all residents was completed. Occupants will have to undergo three weeks of quarantine in government centres.
Health officials said the patient was a 39-year-old domestic helper from the Philippines, and her infection carried the N501Y and E484K mutations. Both types were found in more infectious strains first identified in South Africa and Brazil, and further sequencing would be needed to determine the variant.
The woman had not travelled outside the city since arriving in 2019, Dr Ronald Lam Man-kin, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said, raising fears of the strain already spreading in the community.
Her employer’s 10-month-old daughter had also tested positive and genetic analysis was being carried out to see which strain she had.
“For this case, we have not been able to trace the source. … As it is the first locally contracted case involving a variant and one of the family members was also infected, we think the situation is very grim,” Lam said.
“Including the latest case, there have been four cases involving a coronavirus variant detected in the community. She developed symptoms on April 23. During the 14-day incubation period, she had been in Hong Kong.