HKU Urged To Cleanse Key Areas Of Lab Building

People who frequent the building that houses a University of Hong Kong laboratory where significant traces of Covid-19 were found are urging the school to take immediate steps to disinfect the key areas to prevent an outbreak.

Environmental swabs taken from the lab at HKU's school of public health, located on the sixth floor of the multi-storey building in Sandy Bay, were found to contain the virus.

One of the employees working on the floor had tested positive, and 14 of 37 environmental swabs from there were found to be contaminated.

A man surnamed Ng, who works at another lab there, said authorities should take steps to cleanse the commonly used areas like lifts.

"Most of the time ... [people] will be using the same elevators and we don't know whether they go up and down the whole building for work," he said. "Maybe the whole building is contaminated."

A woman, who gave her name as Zhang, said she has to come to the building frequently for work and was prepared for a possible outbreak.

"I think Covid-19 is going to be like catching a cold, like everywhere. So I already prepare myself actually," she said.

But she said she plans to get a coronavirus test because of the reports from the lab. "I think everyone [here] should do it," she said.

A hospital worker who only comes to the building to deliver blood samples for testing said she has been checking her temperature after she was notified about the contamination on the sixth floor.

She said she had visited the building on Friday, but not the sixth floor, but still thought it was better to get tested.