Coronavirus: calls for better communication by Hong Kong health authorities after family complains about outdated test results for baby
- Parents say Department of Health never informed them directly of the change to their 10-month-old daughter’s Covid-19 status
- Tests on the girl first came back as indeterminate before being classified as asymptomatic, despite the infant testing negative repeatedly
The girl was discharged from hospital on Saturday, along with her father, who had been admitted after his own test result came back as indeterminate.
The Mok family’s ordeal began when the son, 17, tested preliminary-positive for the coronavirus on January 18 and the father, mother and their 10-month-old girl were sent to the government-run Penny’s Bay quarantine camp the next day.
The son was later confirmed as infected, while tests on the father and girl came back as indeterminate and the pair were sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei for monitoring and further screening, while the mother remained at the isolation camp.
The father and the girl tested negative at hospital on January 22, the same day they learned from a friend that the Department of Health had changed the classification of an early test on the girl from indeterminate to asymptomatic, the mother told the media on Saturday. Two days later, the daughter and the father again tested negative.
But according to the parents, the department never informed them directly of the change to their daughter’s Covid-19 status and they also questioned how she could be asymptomatic at Penny’s Bay and very soon after show no signs of infection.