CHP Mulls Action Against Woman For Misleading Them

Health officials said they are considering whether or not to prosecute a Thai housewife for reportedly giving incorrect information on how she contracted Covid-19 and misleading them about the whereabouts of her infected friend.

The woman in question was a 27-year-old who lives in Tsing Yi who was among the confirmed cases on Sunday.

She told authorities she thought she had caught the virus from a friend who she went shopping with in Tsim Sha Tsui, but that the friend had returned to Thailand and tested positive there.

But the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said the friend in question never left Hong Kong, and was in fact staying in Tsim Sha Tsui with four other Thais.

The friend, aged 35, tested preliminary positive, while one of the other flat mates – a Thai woman aged 38 who arrived in Hong Kong in March – was among the confirmed cases on Monday.

The CHP's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said the 35-year-old woman had lived at the Holly Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui earlier, before moving to the Stanford Hillview Hotel, and police have been contacted to trace people who had been in contact with the woman.

Sample bottles have also been distributed to residents at the Holly Mansion.

Chuang said the CHP are also looking to see whether or not the housewife had breached any Covid-19 regulations requiring people to disclose information about their whereabouts to health officials.

The CHP meanwhile reported 11 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, of which seven were imported. Out of the four local cases, just one – a 46-year-old female clerk who worked at the Chiap Luen Industrial Building in Kwai Chung – had no known source.

Chuang also said that Nepal Airlines is now banned from landing in Hong Kong until October 17, after six of the imported cases reported on Monday arrived in the SAR from Nepal and were on the same Nepal Airlines flight.

"We do not know the reason for the number of cases from the same flight, that's why we invoke our law, cap 599H to suspend the airline for two weeks, similar to [Air India] before," said Chuang.