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Staff subject to compulsory Covid-19 testing queue at a mobile specimen collection station at Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: Nora Tam

Coronavirus: 3 new imported cases in Hong Kong, including 2 people fully vaccinated against Covid-19

  • Arrivals from Namibia, Ghana and Cyprus all test positive for mutation linked to more infectious Delta variant
  • Man from Namibia had previously been given two doses of BioNTech vaccines, and woman from Cyprus had Russian-made Sputnik V doses
Hong Kong confirmed three imported Covid-19 cases carrying mutations on Wednesday, including two people who were fully vaccinated.

The three infections involved a 53-year-old man arriving from Namibia, a 42-year-old woman from Cyprus and a 37-year-old man from Ghana.

All were found to have the L452R mutation, which is linked to the more infectious Delta variant.

The man from Namibia had received two shots of the BioNTech vaccine, and the woman had also been vaccinated with two doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V jab. Both received their second shots in April, making them fully vaccinated.

The city’s total number of confirmed infections stood at 11,955, with 212 related deaths.

On Tuesday, the Centre for Health Protection revealed that an airport porter, whose infection was confirmed on Sunday, was linked to four earlier imported cases from Russia.

Health authorities suspected the man, who had spent several hours inside a cargo plane one of the four cases worked on, was infected by an undiagnosed cabin crew member.

Separately, in a written reply to the Legislative Council on Wednesday, the government revealed that since the middle of last year, the Centre for Food Safety had tested over 12,000 environmental samples taken from imported frozen foodstuffs for the presence of the coronavirus.

As of last month, all of the items – imported from more than 50 places around the world – had tested negative. About half of the food screened was meat, and over 40 per cent was seafood.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department also offered free, voluntary coronavirus testing for workers in the frozen food industry. More than 8,400 people had taken advantage of the testing as of last month, and all results had come back negative.

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