Tin Shui Wai Market Vendors To Undergo Virus Test

Workers at a Tin Shui Wai wet market will be tested for Covid-19 after it emerged that a couple of recently infected people had visited the market.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said it's not clear if the wet market was a source of infection, but they will send specimen bottles to stall vendors as a precaution.

This comes as the centre reported six newly-confirmed cases on Monday, a significant drop after almost two dozen cases were added the previous day.

Among the two local cases added on Monday, one was with its source unknown. The 60-year-old domestic worker from the Philippines works at Ching Hoi House in Tin Ching Estate, but used to spend her weekends in Ma Tin Pok in Yuen Long.

She used to go to the T Market in Chung Fu in Tin Shui Wai once or twice a week, and had also visited a hair salon in Tin Sau Bazaar on Wednesday, two days before she fell ill. The hairdresser is now in quarantine.

Chuang said the authorities were still investigating the movements of the helper as she was not able to give the exact details of the places she had visited.

The police still haven't found the place in Ma Tin Pok which she went during the weekends.

Meanwhile, Chuang said the authorities are not aware if the lab worker at the University of Hong Kong's lab in Sandy Bay, who tested positive for Covid-19, had taken part in the government's universal community testing programme.

Chuang said it was almost certain that the lab worker contaminated her work environment after more than a dozen environmental swabs taken from the laboratory came back positive.

She said the viral level was the highest at and around the patient's desk and computer, which was a key sign that the virus stemmed from her.

"Judging from the distribution, this finding is compatible with the patient contaminating the environment. If the virus is coming from the lab and contaminating the environment, usually the contamination is really widespread and not concentrated on the area she might touch."

The office has been closed for disinfection for 14 days, and all employees will be quarantined.