Coronavirus: Hong Kong Jockey Club closing Happy Valley clubhouse after member confirmed to be infected

The Hong Kong Jockey Club is closing its Happy Valley clubhouse from Wednesday after a 63-year-old member who had visited the premises multiple times over the past few weeks was confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus on Monday night, taking the city’s total to 100.

The man was identified as the brother of a 60-year-old woman, also a Jockey Club member, who had been all over Hong Kong Island – visiting private clinics, restaurants and shops, getting her hair done, going to a temple and attending wedding gatherings – before she was hospitalised with Covid-19 on February 25.

“In order to protect its employees and members, the club is taking an extra precautionary step to close the entire Happy Valley clubhouse from tomorrow until we receive the relevant results of medical checks of the employees,” a spokeswoman said on Tuesday night.

The Department of Health earlier confirmed that the man had no travel history outside the city during the incubation period, but attended his daughter’s wedding on February 22. His wife, who has no symptoms, is now being quarantined.

He was sent to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan after his deep throat saliva sample tested positive for Covid-19. As a close contact of his sister, he was earlier sent to a quarantine centre since he had not developed any symptoms.

Hong Kong did not record any new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, and the tally remained at 100 confirmed cases and a probable one. There have been two related fatalities.

The club also revealed that the man visited the Food Plaza on the premises on February 23 after attending his daughter’s wedding banquet, which his sister, the 85th confirmed case, also joined.

He also visited the clubhouse’s Six Furlong restaurant on February 18 and 21, the Food Plaza on February 15 and 20 and the premises’ Derby Bar on February 14.

The club suspended the operations of the Derby Bar and Derby Restaurant from noon on Tuesday while the Food Plaza and facilities on the same floor have been closed since February 25 – after the man’s sister was confirmed with the infection – until further notice.

Meanwhile, building management of the Hopewell Centre in Wan Chai wrote to tenants on Tuesday to say they had been notified by an office on the 56th floor about the confirmed infection of a staff member, the 63-year-old man. He last visited the office on February 23.

Hopewell Centre Management said the office was closed on Tuesday for thorough cleaning and disinfection. Common areas and facilities in the building including lift lobbies and toilets were also cleaned and disinfected.

The man’s sister, who lives in Tai Hang on Hong Kong Island, consulted a private doctor five times before she was sent to the private Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley.

She was transferred to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam on February 25.