Feature: In Tsz Wan Shan, Whole Families Catch Covid

Over the past weeks, Tsz Wan Shan has become a hot spot of Hong Kong's 'third wave' of coronavirus outbreaks.

Scores of infections have been linked to the small, but densely populated area. From an initial outbreak at a home for the elderly, the contagion quickly spread to restaurants, shops, and public housing estates.

It's just one example of just how quickly Covid-19 can move, and may offer some insights on some of the potential loopholes that can carry the virus out to a wider section of the population.

One example is long-time resident Luka – a 20-year-old university student who has lived together with his grandparents, his mother and brother in Tsz Wan Shan for over a decade.

When a cluster of infections centred on an elderly home in the area broke out on July 7, they didn’t pay much attention to what appeared to be a small, localised outbreak much mind.

His grandpa kept going down to the local park, while his grandma continued her regular visits to the local market.

Then, day after day, more and more local cases started appearing in the neighbourhood.

On July 10 – a Friday – his 77-year-old grandfather developed a fever.

“The day after my grandfather fell sick, my grandmother and my brother also got a fever, which made our entire family worried about the whole situation”, he said.

They were worried enough to wear masks at home and taking their meals separately, but chose not to seek help right away.

“We didn’t want to use call emergency services because we didn’t know whether we [just have] a normal cold, or Covid-19, so we wait until Monday to have the virus test.”

All four family members with symptoms ended up testing positive for Covid-19 and were taken to hospital.

Luka himself came home and spent that night alone. But the very next day, he also developed a fever. He headed to the accident and emergency department at a hospital, and also tested positive for the virus.

What had started as a suspected cold ended up landing all five members of the household in different hospitals with Covid within days. Fortunately, they’re all in a stable condition.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. Luka had been working as an intern at a government department before he fell ill, and he'd been interacting with many of his colleagues there.

Over the incubation period, he'd been having lunch with different people – almost 20 – he thinks.

The other interns who had contact with him also got tested, but Luka was surprised that they still had to go to work while they were waiting for their results.

He found out that managers chose to bundle them up together on one floor – something the 20-year-old thinks defies logic.

“Some of them… still had to go to work even though they haven’t got their results, which means on the floor that the interns worked, there may be someone who was infected, but they don’t know. So all the interns felt worried about that.”

Fortunately, none of the interns caught the virus.

As for Luka, his symptoms have subsided, even though he's still carrying a high viral load and has to remain isolated in hospital for now.

As he waits to get the all-clear, he offers this advice to those who still feel they can still go about their daily business as usual: stay home as much as possible and wear a mask when you need to go out.