No Decision On Mandatory Testing On Estate Residents

Health officials said they have not decided yet whether residents of Kwai Shing West Estate would be required to undergo mandatory Covid testing amid an outbreak there.

On Monday, the number of cases at the estate rose by one to 13.

While 12 previous patients live on the fifth floor of Block 8, the latest patient lives on an upper floor.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said they might have been infected after touching certain communal facilities.

She said more than 1,000 residents have already submitted specimens for Covid-19 tests.

"Whether to do mandatory testing for the Kwai Shing residents depends on the cooperation of the residents," Dr Chuang said.

"I understand we’re having mobile testing stations and we have distributed bottles to the floors of the residents. So I hope the test results can be available soon, and I hope even those residents who went out, they undergo testing as soon as possible.”

Health authorities reported a total of 78 new cases on Monday.

Seventy-one of them are locally acquired infections, 29 of which via unknown sources.

A steward who worked at the concerts of local pop star Hins Cheung has been confirmed with the virus. Earlier, four people who attended the shows on different days last month tested positive.

A total of 50,000 people attended the performances over eight days.

Dr Chuang said although officials are not sure if there is an outbreak at the concerts, she appealed to anyone who is worried to get tested for the virus.

“There are so many audiences in there. There’s bound to be some silent carriers and it is possible that some transmission has occurred," she said.

"But we are not sure whether this is an outbreak. Some of the audience have other routes of transmission because they have family members who have earlier onset of symptoms. We’re not sure whether they all acquired the infection from this concert or they have individual sources of infection.”

Health authorities also reported a small outbreak involving three staff at the Centre for Health Protection.

One of them had transported a Covid-19 patient, but officials said he was wearing full protective gear.

Meanwhile, there were seven imported and 70 preliminary-positive cases.

An ICU doctor with the Hospital Authority, Dr Kenny Chan, noted that in this wave of infections, the condition of patients deteriorated quickly as soon as they were admitted to hospital.

He said 70 percent of isolation beds at ICUs have been occupied.

Chan also warned that younger people should not have the misconception that they would not become seriously ill after getting infected.

He said six out of 36 patients who are currently critically ill are aged under 60.