Outbreak At Detention Centres Unlikely, Says CHP

Health authorities on Monday played down the possibility that Covid-19 is being transmitted within local detention centres, after a second Vietnamese detainee was confirmed with the disease in as many days.

The 40-year-old woman being detained on suspicion of illegally entering Hong Kong had spent time at the Mong Kok Police station and Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre over the past month, before she was transferred to the Ma Tau Kok Detention Centre on the December 14.

An initial Covid test conducted before she was locked up came back negative, but she later tested positive in a second test conducted last week.

Another Vietnamese detainee who had also been kept at the Castle Bay facility was confirmed with Covid-19 on Sunday.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said while authorities will investigate any possible link between the two cases, says she thinks it's unlikely that there's an outbreak at any local detention centre, given that all detainees undergo regular testing for Covid.

“I don't suspect there is an outbreak there,” she said.

However, authorities will conduct more tests as a precaution.

Meanwhile, the CHP confirmed 61 new Covid-19 infections on Monday – with all but one deemed to have been locally-transmitted.

Two more people – a 74-year-old woman with a terminal illness, and a 73-year-old man with a chronic illness – have succumbed to the disease, bringing Hong Kong's coronavirus death toll to 139.