Four More Test Positive As Hospital Cluster Grows

Three more staff and another patient at the United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong tested preliminary positive for Covid-19, taking the total to 19.

The news emerged in the early hours of Sunday, not long after leading microbiologist and government adviser Yuen Kwok-yung revealed that his investigations showed the growing cluster was linked to a single patient, considered a super-spreader.

The University of Hong Kong expert was called in to investigate after 11 patients and four staff were confirmed to have the virus. He found that a single 84-year-old woman who was moved between wards likely spread the virus.

Hospital officials said the woman was admitted on December 15 and tested negative for the coronavirus.

She was later transferred to the palliative care ward due to a bed shortage before she was found to be carrying the coronavirus.

Yuen described it as a "most unfortunate" super spreading event, adding that the virus might have been transmitted through the air in the palliative care ward.