Officials Look Into Infection At Jordan Care Home

Health officials said on Wednesday they are investigating how an elderly resident in a small care home in Jordan got infected with Covid-19, despite not leaving the facility recently.

The 80-year-old man has tested preliminary positive for the virus.

The care home is located within an area covered by a strict mandatory testing order.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said more than 20 other residents and staff at the care home are to be put in quarantine.

“The source of infection of the elderly resident is being investigated. If he did not go out of the elderly home, it’s possible that there are other residents or staff also infected and infected him,” she said.

This came as authorities reported 70 new coronavirus cases.

Sixty-three of the infections are locally acquired, 31 of them involving people in the Yau Tsim Mong district.

Meanwhile, a nurse who works at Queen Elizabeth Hospital has tested preliminary positive for the virus. She had a meal with a nurse who works in North District Hospital who was recently confirmed to have Covid.

A chief manager with the authority, Dr Linda Yu, repeated an appeal to medical workers to avoid social gatherings.

“Chinese New Year is coming and we want to appeal again for our staff and also the public to refrain from social gatherings,” she said.

A nurse in Tuen Mun Hospital has also been confirmed as having the virus while another nurse in Princess Margaret Hospital has tested preliminary positive. But Yu said these two cases are not linked.

Residents living in five more buildings – in Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok, Kwai Chung and Kwun Tong – will be ordered to get tested after cases were reported in their blocks.

More than 40 other people have also tested preliminary positive for the virus.