Salon Customers Ordered To Get Covid Tests

Health authorities on Thursday ordered people who have been to a salon in Central after December 8 to get tested for Covid-19, after four hair stylists and a customer there came down with the virus.

Officials said more than 30 staff of Glow Salon and Spa on Wellington Street have been put under quarantine.

Health authorities have stopped short of declaring it an outbreak there, while Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said officials would investigate whether the virus was transmitted at the salon.

“We’re worried that there may be other transmission in the salon among the customers. That’s why we’re asking them to come forward for compulsory testing to make sure they are not infected,” she said.

Authorities reported 96 new coronavirus cases on Thursday. Ninety infections are locally acquired, of which 26 are from unknown sources.

Meanwhile, an 80-year-old patient infected with Covid-19 died at North District Hospital on Wednesday night, bringing the SAR's death toll related to coronavirus to 124.

In another case, a 56-year-old woman was taken to Pok Oi Hospital in Yuen Long in serious condition and died at the emergency ward on Wednesday. She tested positive for the coronavirus after her death.

The woman is believed to be pro-establishment activist Leticia Lee.

A chief manager with the Hospital Authority, Dr Linda Yu, said the patient had suffered from a fever and cough for a week.

“We’re not sure the cause of death is related to Covid-19. We’ve referred the case to the coroner for further assessment,” she said.