Sixteen More Covid Cases Emerge From Gym Cluster

Sixteen people connected to a Sai Ying Pun gym have come down with Covid-19, one day after a fitness trainer there contracted the disease.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said the Ursus Fitness cluster now stands at 17, of which seven are staff members and 10 are customers.

The CHP's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan confirmed that there are 40 preliminary positive cases, of which 30 are linked to the gym, comprising mostly of customers and their close contacts. She said the total number of people linked to the cluster could exceed 50 people.

Chuang said there were some group activities and one-to-one classes at the gym and some of the clients did not wear masks.

The fitness centre has been temporarily shut, while 20 samples collected from the gym came back negative. From March 1 to March 9, more than 240 people visited the fitness centre, and authorities have arranged for all of them to be placed into quarantine.

Also present at the press briefing on Thursday was Undersecretary for Food and Health Chui Tak-yi.

When asked by reporters if the government will consider shutting down gyms, he said "the government will look at it very closely, and while we are in the process of evaluating or reviewing the social distancing measures in the next cycle, we will consider whether and how to tighten the infection control measures in these particular type of premises."

Hong Kong reported a total of 22 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, of which 19 were locally acquired.

Three of the local cases came from an unknown source. They involved a retiree living in Sham Shui Po, a housewife in Lai King, and a dishwasher who lives in Tai Wo Ping and works at a restaurant called Diamond Cafe in the same area.

Only three of the new cases were imported.