'Check If Maids Stayed At Mong Kok Boarding House'

Health authorities have called on those who hired foreign domestic workers recently to find out if they had stayed at a boarding house in Mong Kok. At least one helper who stayed there has tested positive for Covid-19.

This comes after the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said it was unable to track down the close contacts of a 40-year-old Indonesian helper who was confirmed with the coronavirus on Tuesday. The CHP said that she lived in a boarding house in Cheung Hing Mansion with at least 10 other helpers before joining her new employer earlier this month.

The CHP's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said they had called on the police to help them find the helpers, but to no avail. Officers were denied entry by the owner of the boarding house.

"We’re worried that they may have the disease and spread in the community. That’s why we call upon the employers if you have any domestic helpers who stayed in that place, please bring them to have a check-up," Chuang said.

The centre reported 62 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, all but one are locally acquired infections.

Among the new local cases, 33 are linked to previously-confirmed ones and 28 have no known source.

Of those connected to previous cases, five are linked to the Kwai Chung container terminal cluster.

Chuang also said among the newly-confirmed cases is a 35-year-old Indonesian helper who lived at a boarding house in Causeway Bay last month. She was believed to have stayed in the boarding house with five other domestic helpers before reporting to her new job in Sai Kung on August 1.

Eleven close contacts will be sent to a quarantine centre.

Meanwhile, preliminary results show more than 30 other people tested positive for the virus, including two nurses who work at Eastern Hospital and United Christian Hospital respectively.

A Hospital Authority chief manager, Dr Linda Yu, said neither of them had cared for Covid-19 patients, and they might have caught the virus via community transmission outside the hospitals.