Around 130 Schoolchildren Put Into Quarantine

Authorities on Monday ordered around 130 students at a secondary school in Shau Kei Wan to be sent to a quarantine centre after two fellow pupils came down with Covid-19.

The two infected students at Shau Kei Wan Government Secondary School live in Wai Lee Building in Quarry Bay, where a number of other cases emerged recently.

One student's infection was confirmed earlier while the other tested positive during a lockdown and mass testing exercise at the residential block on Sunday night.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said the two secondary six pupils attended exams in the same school hall for a few days at the beginning of February.

Both developed mild symptoms during the exam period.

Chuang said the two students did not know each other and did not sit close to each other during the exams, but they might have used the same communal facilities such as a washroom.

Therefore, she said, all the students who attended the exams, five teachers and a few cleaners who worked at the hall are considered close contacts and will be put in quarantine.

Family members of the students and staff are required to get tested for Covid.

"We don't know what happened. Both students had onset during the exam period although their symptoms were mild. It's still possible that the two [cases] are related or there may be other infections in the school that started from there and back to the building. You never know. So as a precaution, we'll put all the students under quarantine," Chuang said.