No Hospital Infections Among 28 New Covid-19 Cases

Tests on almost 300 patients and hospital staff who came into contact with an elderly man believed to have caught the new coronavirus from another patient at Pok Oi hospital have all come back negative so far, although health authorities are still waiting for some results and others have yet to be tested.

The patient, 93, is believed to have caught the virus from a 33-year-old patient in a nearby bed — in what would be the first known case of someone catching the bug in a public hospital setting.

He has now been transferred to Tuen Mun hospital, where he’s in a serious condition despite showing some improvement.

The Hospital Authority said most of the 72 patients who had stayed in the same wards as the man have been tested for the virus, and all have come back negative so far.

The authority said further checks have revealed that around 200 healthcare workers have had some contact with the patient, who had been admitted to the hospital in early March.

All tests so far have been negative, as have environmental samples taken from the wards where he stayed.

The HA said staff who had been wearing the proper protective equipment while caring for the patient would not be considered close contacts, but will be placed under medical surveillance for 28 days, in accordance with guidelines.

Four of the man’s own family members, meanwhile, also tested negative.

Health authorities are also keeping a close eye on more than 120 police officers who were potentially exposed to the virus and are being transferred to a quarantine camp.

On Saturday, a 46-year-old sergeant of the Police Tactical Unit at Kowloon West was confirmed with the disease.

He had been stationed at the same unit as another officer who had tested positive last Monday.

More than 120 officers are being treated as close contacts, as officials believe the virus may have been transmitted through environmental contamination of the toilet.

Three of them have reported having upper respiratory symptoms, and will be tested for Covid-19, while the others are to go straight into quarantine.

This comes as the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) confirmed another 28 cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally so far to 890.

Most of the new cases are people who’ve recently returned from overseas, or are linked to previous patients.

One is the mother of the SAR’s youngest Covid-19 case so far, a 40-day-old baby boy.

This follows 17 new cases that were reported on Saturday.

Chuang Shuk-Kwan of the CHP said while the number of new cases have come down in recent days, it’s far too early to say that the rate of infections is declining.

She said the number of infections may have been coming down because the number of incoming travellers has also been dropping, but warned that there is still a chance of a community outbreak.

Responding to a suggestion from top epidemiologist Yuen Kwok-yung of the University of Hong Kong for more testing in the general population to catch mild or asymptomatic cases, Chuang said it would be ‘difficult’ to do this.

“We are providing extensive testing to travellers as well as close contacts of confirmed cases in our quarantine centres”, she said.

“That’s why we can pick up those asymptomatic infections. But for the general public… everybody is asymptomatic, so it is difficult to arrange testing for all the people in the public without an epidemiological risk factor.”

She called on anyone with flu-like symptoms to consult a physician and ask for a Covid-19 test if needed.