Covid-hit Choi Wan Estate Block Partially Evacuated

Another Covid-hit public housing block was being partially evacuated on Wednesday evening as health authorities and experts tried to determine if the virus was spreading through the pipes.

Residents of units numbered 33 and 34 of Ming Lai House in Choi Wan Estate in Ngai Chi Wan were sent to quarantine camps.

Infections have been reported from six units there, five of them facing the same direction.

An infectious disease expert who inspected the building, Yuen Kwok-yung, said the decision to partially evacuate residents was made to minimise the risk of them being exposed to Covid-19 because their flats share the same sewage and venting pipes as those five units.

He also said officials will examine whether there is any leakage in the pipes that could have spread the virus.

All remaining residents of Ming Lai House will undergo mandatory coronavirus testing.

Kwai Tung House at Tung Tau Estate and Block 8 of Kwai Shing West Estate in Kwai Chung are among the public housing blocks that were partially evacuated in recent days because of Covid-19.