Tests Ordered For Residents Of Two Covid-hit Blocks

Health authorities have ordered residents of two housing estate blocks, in Kwai Chung and Ma On Shan, to undergo testing for Covid-19 after clusters of inflections in the buildings.

But officials have rejected the idea of sealing off the blocks for now, even though a new legal framework would allow them to do so.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said there were four more confirmed cases in a cluster at Block 8 of the Kwai Shing West Estate in Kwai Chung.

Altogether, 22 people there have been infected so far, involving eight units on the fifth floor and five more units on other levels.

Dr Chuang said sample bottles have been sent to residents of a block at another housing estate suffering from an outbreak -- Kam Wai House, at Kam Fung Court in Ma On Shan.

But she said given that some residents might have already left their homes, officials have decided to order compulsory testing.

“We don’t know if those who left have been tested, therefore we need to give a mandatory testing order so people would treat this matter seriously,” Chuang said.

The doctor said the main goal of the authorities is to get people tested instead of locking them in Covid-stricken places, and officials do not have to seal buildings off just because they have a law allowing them to do so.

A total of 104 new coronavirus cases were reported in the SAR on Wednesday -- 99 of which were locally acquired infections, and 35 with unknown sources.

The fresh cases included a construction worker at the Tseung Kwan O - Lam Tin Tunnel, with five bar benders there also testing preliminary positive.

Chuang said some 1,400 workers at the construction site have also been ordered to get a test, and she believes workers could have been infected as they shared a changing room.

“They have a container for a changing room and resting... so they may share some of the facilities. That’s why probably that’s the reason for a small outbreak among them,” she said.

"There are many workers working there. That’s why we are asking the other workers to undergo testing as well, although they are not considered as close contacts at the moment.”

Staff working on the first and second floor of the Sha Tin branch of the department store Yata are also covered under the latest mandatory testing order, with one more confirmed case adding to the existing cluster there, and five more people testing preliminary positive.