Covid Cases At Buddhist Hospital Fuel Outbreak Fears

There are fears of a Covid-19 outbreak at Buddhist Hospital in Lok Fu after three people from the same ward came down with the virus.

The Hospital Authority said the latest case involved an 83-year-old male patient who tested preliminary positive for the virus on Wednesday.

A nurse and another patient were infected earlier.

The authority’s chief manager, Dr Sara Ho, said it's not clear yet if there was virus transmission in the ward.

“For this particular patient, he did not stay in the same cubicle as the former confirmed patient... as this case is a preliminary positive one, I need further contact information and the possible source of infection needs to be investigated,” she said.

Hong Kong on Wednesday reported 54 new cases of coronavirus, 47 of them locally acquired.

Thirteen of the cases are untraceable, and there are also more than 50 preliminary positive cases.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Health Protection said mandatory testing orders will be issued for more than 40 buildings around the territory later on Wednesday, after at least two unlinked cases were reported from each of the blocks.

A 63-year-old coronavirus patient who had chronic illness has died on Wednesday morning, bringing the city's pandemic-related death toll to 146.