SAR Govt Doctor Among 39 New Virus Patients

Health officials said on Monday that a doctor who has come down with Covid-19 could have caught it while on duty at the airport, but medical staff there have all the protective equipment they need.

The doctor, from the Department of Health, is one of 39 new virus patients in the city, with the total now standing at 356.

The authorities said the doctor was deployed to the airport a week ago and was responsible for signing quarantine orders for people arriving in Hong Kong.

The Centre for Health Protection said she wore a surgical mask, a plastic face shield and gloves while at work.

But the doctor developed a sore throat on Sunday.

One of her close colleagues is being tested for the virus after also showing symptoms. The pair had eaten meals together at the airport.

Dr Wong Ka-hing, who is in charge of the centre, said at a media briefing that they are investigating how the doctor contracted the disease.

"We cannot at this moment exclude the possibility of infection during her work," he said.

Among the newly confirmed infections, at least 30 patients had been overseas recently, with some of them students, foreign domestic helpers and airline workers.

Those believed to have contracted the illness locally include a second musician working in the Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district, and a 32-year-old man who had recently visited the ICBC Tower branch of Pure Fitness.

Asked how worrying a recent surge in Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong is, and whether the city could become the next Wuhan or Italy, the officials said the number of cases without a known source or so-called silent transmission is still low here. But Wong said everyone has a role to play to make sure that remains the case.

"It doesn’t require a public health specialist to tell you. You can judge from the number of infections in the past few days that the situation in Hong Kong is very dangerous," Wong said.