Covid Testing Arranged For All Inmates

Authorities will arrange Covid-19 testing for all 7,000 inmates in Hong Kong after two of them became infected.

One of them was transferred to the Immigration Department's Castle Peak centre last week after serving time in Pik Uk prison. He had also stayed at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre.

The inmate had performed laundry duties while he was at Pik Uk prison, but Dr Chaung Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said she didn't believe that was the source of infection.

“I think he might have got infected in Pik Uk or even Lai Chi Kok. But because he was asymptomatic, we can’t determine when he started to have been infected.

“I don’t think the laundry was the source, usually it’s by human-to-human. There may be silent transmission in Pik Uk or Lai Chi Kok, so we have to test all the inmates as well as the staff to see if there are any linked cases,” she continued.

The Hospital Authority added the bed linen sent to Pik Uk for washing did not contain the virus.

The other inmate spent time at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre.

The pair were among 21 new coronavirus cases announced by health authorities on Sunday, which also included five people who took part in the government's universal testing scheme.

Three family members – an elderly couple and their foreign domestic helper – were among those who tested positive in the universal scheme that began on Tuesday. The helper had been the first to show symptoms in August.

The other two identified through universal testing were a 59-year-old man who works in a restaurant in Wan Chai which had been closed and a housewife in Tung Chung.

Those five infections were among 15 local coronavirus cases announced on Sunday.

Seven of the 15 cases did not have a known source, including the two inmates.

There were also six imported cases on Sunday, while fewer than 10 people have tested preliminary positive.

The number of infections on Sunday, at 21, was a rebound from seven the day before.

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