Coronavirus: first Hong Kong patient found with variant strain jailed 3 months for lying to health authorities, girlfriend gets 20 days

Defendants had pleaded guilty to misleading investigators as to their relationship, whereabouts during contact-tracing effort

Their infections sparked citywide scare over more infectious Beta variant, prompting mass quarantine, testing orders

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Defendant Victoria Marie Alcaide Guadiz declined to speak to reporters as she was whisked from court to a waiting vehicle after her sentencing. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 11:14am, 5 Jul 2021Updated: 10:53pm, 5 Jul 2021

Hong Kong’s first two Covid-19 patients found to be carrying a mutated strain of the coronavirus in the community were handed jail sentences on Monday for lying to officials about their whereabouts and sparking a citywide scare over the spread of the more transmissive Beta variant.

Syed Mohamed Rizvi, a 30-year-old engineer, pleaded guilty last month at Kowloon City Court to six counts of knowingly providing false information to officials, while his co-defendant, Victoria Marie Alcaide Guadiz, 31, a qualified nurse with whom he was living, admitted one count of the same offence.

Rizvi was sentenced to three months, while Guadiz was given 20 days and released immediately, as she had already spent that long in custody.

Syed Mohamed Rizvi had pleaded guilty to six counts of knowingly providing false information to officials. Photo: Winson Wong

Describing the case as “very serious”, Principal Magistrate Ada Yim Shun-yee said while the sentence was “not to punish those who were infected”, the court was “obliged to pass a clear message to the public” about complying with the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance so authorities could prevent Covid-19’s spread.

“The Department of Health was deprived of [its ability] to trace close contacts over 16 days, and worries of invisible carriers in the community caused immense public distress,” she said.