Hong Kong Records 36 New Covid-19 Cases

Hong Kong recorded 36 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the city’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 4,560.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said there were 35 local cases and just one imported case – a Filipino domestic worker who arrived in Hong Kong on August 7 and tested positive after providing a second sample during her quarantine.

Of the local cases, 29 are linked to previously confirmed infections, and include a worker at the Wang Kee Port Operations Services, a company at the centre of one of the largest coronavirus clusters at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal.

The CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan also confirmed that there are about 20 preliminary positive cases, including a security guard who works at the container terminal.

She said authorities had collected samples from 2,600 of 8,000 people who work at the terminal for Covid-19 tests.

Meanwhile, the Hospital Authority said a 64-year-old patient who was admitted to Yan Chai Hospital for abdominal pain on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19 in a preliminary test.

A chief manager with the authority, Dr Lau Ka-hin, said the patient always pulled down his mask while he was in the ward.

Six patients who shared the same ward as him are considered close contacts, of which four have been quarantined. Authorities are tracing two others who were recently discharged.

Medical staff who came into contact with the patient will be placed under medical surveillance.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Hospital Authority confirmed that another elderly coronavirus patient had passed away, bringing the death toll linked to Covid-19 to 70.

The 95-year-old man had chronic illnesses, and lived at King Fok Nursing Home in Sham Shui Po, where more than a dozen residents and staff have caught the virus.

He was admitted to the Caritas Medical Centre two weeks ago with a fever and a cough.