Coronavirus: mass testing of Hong Kong domestic helpers uncovers at least three Covid-19 cases, all with mutated variants
- Occupants of more than 200 flats in Block R of Allway Gardens in Tsuen Wan will be evacuated and quarantined as a result of confirmed case
- Two other residential buildings, Royalton in Pok Fu Lam and Kornhill Block N2, locked down shortly after midnight
Health officials ordered the evacuation and quarantining of occupants of more than 200 flats in Block R of Allway Gardens in Tsuen Wan after confirming one of the infections. The building was placed under overnight lockdown at 7.30pm on Tuesday to test residents for Covid-19.
Two other residential buildings, the Royalton in Pok Fu Lam and Kornhill Block N2, were locked down shortly after midnight because of two preliminary-positive cases which involved variants. Testing of residents was expected to start at 9am for both buildings.
The 48-year-old helper with the confirmed infection carried the N501Y mutation, which has been linked to more transmissive variants.
The woman, who arrived in Hong Kong from the Philippines on March 31, completed her quarantine period in the Dorsett Wanchai hotel on April 21. She visited the eighth floor of the Immigration Department building in Wan Chai and a clinic in Causeway Bay for a body check on the day she left the hotel. She moved in with her employers the next day.
“As she carried the N501Y mutation, and also had a travel history, and her antibodies also tested positive upon hospital admission, therefore we cannot rule out this could be an imported case,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection.