Omicron: Complaints mount from Hong Kong residents at locked-down blocks in public housing estate, amid cross-infection fears
- Poor communication, improper hygiene and confusing testing arrangements among issues encountered by residents at Kwai Chung Estate
- Residents say meals were placed near rubbish areas, urge crowd control for tests to be improved after maskless residents were seen coughing nearby
Complaints about poor communication, improper hygiene and shoddy testing arrangements at locked down blocks in a Hong Kong public housing estate continued to mount on Monday, with some residents voicing fears of getting infected.
They were among 35,000 people from households in the coronavirus-hit Kwai Chung Estate, an area at the centre of an Omicron outbreak in the city. Of the 16 blocks in the area, two were placed under a five-day lockdown on Friday and Saturday.
About 210 infections have been recorded so far across 12 blocks as of Monday. The outbreak was triggered by cleaners infected by a refuse collector carrying the highly transmissive Omicron variant. More than 40 cleaners of the estate have been quarantined.
While those living in Yat Kwai House and Ying Kwai House were locked down, four other blocks were cordoned off overnight on Saturday for testing, and residents of the remaining 10 were issued compulsory testing orders.
Some residents told the Post they were worried about cross-infection, given what they said were bad hygiene and disorganised, daily test arrangements.
A 48-year-old resident in Yat Kwai House, surnamed Wan, told the Post that the rubbish bin on her floor was overfilled, and garbage had been piling up since day one of the lockdown on Friday. At least one of her neighbours living on the same floor was confirmed to be infected.