Another Patient Added To Sha Tin Covid-19 Cluster

Another resident of a Covid-19 hit housing block in Sha Tin was confirmed to have the virus on Friday, taking the city's total coronavirus tally to 1,108.

Several people living in Luk Chuen House on Lek Yuen Estate had already been found to be infected in the past couple of weeks, leading to a partial evacuation of the building.

The Centre for Health Protection said the new patient is a 58-year-old woman, whose brother and sister-in-law were diagnosed with coronavirus late last month. All three live in Luk Chuen House.

Officials said the new patient developed a fever on May 31 and was sent to the Prince of Wales Hospital rather than quarantine as planned.

She tested negative for Covid-19 and was discharged on June 2 after her fever subsided and she went into quarantine.

Despite showing no further symptoms, a deep throat saliva sample came back positive on Thursday and she was taken back to hospital where she's in a stable condition.

Officials said apart from her two relatives with the virus the woman did not have close contact with anyone else before being diagnosed herself.

In a statement, the CHP said it has been proactively conducting epidemiological investigations and carrying out preventative control measures in regard to the cluster at Luk Chuen House, carrying out hundreds of Covid-19 tests on residents.

"Except for the four confirmed cases announced on June 2 with positive results, other samples have tested negative," it said.

"The CHP is also following up with the residents in Luk Chuen House who have not yet returned their deep throat saliva samples. The CHP strongly appeals to those who have not got in touch with the CHP to contact the CHP personnel according to the medical test order issued and return their samples to the CHP as soon as possible for testing," it added.