Omicron Hong Kong: dance, restaurant clusters grow as officials rush to fend off Covid-19 fifth wave
- Four more people linked to the dance group are confirmed to be infected, while six others have tested preliminary positive
- Another case linked to a separate cluster centred on a restaurant in Kowloon Tong has also been confirmed
An emerging coronavirus cluster in Hong Kong originating from a dance group expanded on Thursday with four more people confirmed to be infected, as authorities rushed to contain the spread of Omicron.
The dance cluster, which has now grown to eight confirmed cases and six preliminary-positive ones, has been traced back to a 28-year-old Cathay Pacific flight attendant who returned to the city from Los Angeles on December 27 carrying the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The flight attendant’s unvaccinated 62-year-old mother contracted the virus and is believed to have spread it to members of her dance group and several others who ate with her at a restaurant in Tin Hau.
Government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University said he believed harsh social-distancing measures set to be reimposed on Friday could be relaxed before Lunar New Year if the clusters did not spread further.
“‘Zero infection’ is not a long-term strategy,” Hui added. “When we have a higher vaccination rate and protection in the community, we can live with the coronavirus.”
Among Thursday’s confirmed cases were a 59-year-old woman who ate breakfast with the flight attendant’s mother at Six Garden Restaurant in Tin Hau on New Year’s Eve, and the husband of a dancer friend who also joined them.
Drawing on Octopus card payments, health authorities were able to figure out that a 42-year-old surveyor, whose source of infection was initially unknown, had sat just one metre away from the breakfast group that day.