CHP Plays Down Concerns Over Kowloon Hotel Tests

Centre for Health Protection experts played down risk concerns as they announced that 300 air passengers landing in Hong Kong on Wednesday were to be the first people taken to the Royal Oriental Hotel in Kowloon to undergo coronavirus tests.

The hotel is being added as a testing centre as authorities say the current facility at Asia-World Expo cannot accommodate all visitors.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said the travellers who test negative for the virus would be free to leave the hotel and head home on their own to start a two-week quarantine. She also rejected concerns about risks to the hotel employees.

“We have already provided support and training for the hotel staff for infection control. For the travellers, if they test negative and they are not close contacts of confirmed cases, they will be allowed to travel back to the place where they undergo home quarantine,” she said.

This comes after public health expert Leung Chi-chiu warned of the infection risk posed to hotel staff who have to clean hundreds of rooms used by the passengers on a daily basis.

He had also urged authorities to arrange transport for the travellers heading for self-quarantine to avoid them roaming around.

Meanwhile, the centre reported four more coronavirus cases on Wednesday – all involving people who had recently returned from UK.

Three of the new patients came back to the SAR on Tuesday and tested positive for the virus at Asia-World Expo near the airport.

Another, a two-year-old boy, came back with his family more than a week ago. He doesn’t have any symptoms but his stool test showed he is infected with the virus.

The Hospital Authority meanwhile reported that another Covid-19 patient was readmitted to hospital on Tuesday.

The 37-year-old woman was confirmed with the infection two weeks ago and discharged on Saturday. But she suffered from shortness of breath and chest discomfort on Tuesday. The latest results showed she was “weak positive” for the virus.

A chief manager with the Hospital Authority, Dr Lau Ka-hin, said experts would meet and discuss whether the guidelines on discharging patients should be tightened. This was the second such case reported in Hong Kong.

The total number of infections reported in Hong Kong stands at 1,033 as of Wednesday.