Gym Staff Should Get Tested Once A Week: Expert

An infectious diseases expert has called for staff at high-risk premises such as gyms to be tested for the coronavirus every seven days, instead of two weeks.

Leung Chi-chiu made the suggestion on Thursday after a cluster of cases emerged at a gym in Sai Ying Pun, where a fitness trainer was confirmed with the virus while nine other staff and customers have tested preliminary positive.

Leung told RTHK that infected people exhale a higher amount of the virus from rapid breathing during exercise, adding that if people didn’t wear masks at gyms, they could easily infect others through droplet transmission.

“There are considerable risks when it comes to the sharing of common facilities, for example, for bathing and changing,” he said.

“The current regular testing at 14 day interval is insufficient to stop the transmission of the virus. People can develop the disease between the two regular testing, and because there’s a 14-day time period, there could be multiple generations of transmission before the next testing.”

Meanwhile, Leung played down concerns over the safety of the Sinovac vaccine, following the deaths of three people after receiving the jabs.

Leung said there’s been a lot of misunderstanding about the vaccine, which he said is being widely adopted in places like Turkey, Chile and Brazil.

He stressed there is no objective evidence to show that the vaccine could increase the risk of cardiovascular events among the elderly or people with chronic illnesses.

“There is no need for excessive concern over the recent incidents, which have been found by our expert committee to be natural events,” he added.