Covid-19 Claims Life Of Elderly Care Home Resident

Health authorities on Wednesday announced Hong Kong’s ninth Covid-19-related death as they confirmed 14 new local infections – with 37 more initial positives pending confirmation.

The latest fatality is a 90-year-old woman who had been infected at an elderly care home in Tsz Wan Shan – the epicentre of a cluster of recent cases.

Of the 14 cases confirmed on Wednesday, seven were infected via unknown sources, including a housewife who also lives in Tsz Wan Shan, a Tuen Mun resident and a part-time taxi driver.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said companies should start considering changes to work arrangements for staff.

“I think if possible employers may consider to allow their employees to stay at home to work”, she said.

She also said it’s to be expected that more government workers would also become infected amid the spike in coronavirus cases, as the CHP confirmed that an officer with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has the virus. She’s believed to have caught the bug from her husband.

A customs officer also tested positive in a preliminary test.

Chuang said the authorities have been steadying ramping up testing, with more than 10,000 Covid-19 tests conducted each day recently.

She said priority would be given to people who are suffering from symptoms, people who are admitted to hospitals, and residents of buildings where there’s been at least two apparently-unrelated cases.

She said she understood the public was very concerned, but appealed for their patience if they are waiting to be tested.

Some eateries at the centre of outbreak clusters have also seen more infections, including a cook who works at Windsor Restaurant in Tsz Wan Shan and two of her family members.

And a man has tested positive for the virus after his wife, who works at a Café de Coral outlet in Choi Hung, was confirmed with the infection earlier.

Five further cases are linked to overseas travel, including two seamen and two helpers from the Philippines, and a flight attendant who flew in from India.

Hong Kong has so far confirmed 1,588 coronavirus infections.