TST Restaurant Cleaner May Be Covid Super-spreader

Health officials said on Friday that a cleaner at a Chinese restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui might have been a super-spreader of coronavirus, leading to a outbreak there in which about 30 people have been infected or tested preliminary positive.

Among the patients in this cluster are staff and customers of Mr Ming's Chinese Dining, along with their families.

The cleaner, who's responsible for clearing tables there, is now critical condition in hospital.

He tested negative for Covid-19 on February 14 but started coughing on February 18.

He went to work and developed a fever on February 19.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said officials considered him to be the most infectious on that day, which was when most of the infected customers ate at the restaurant.

Dr Chuang said all customers who were at the eatery on February 19 will be put under quarantine.

“It’s possible that he’s a super-spreader but we can never confirm this fact. We’re studying the distribution of the tables… We’re also tracing the other customers on the 19th in order not to miss anyone who might be infected,” she said.

The Centre for Health Protection reported 24 new coronavirus infections on Friday, 18 of them locally acquired.

More than 20 others have tested preliminary positive for the virus.

A number of them caught the virus via unknown sources, including a clerk at St. Hilary’s Kindergarten in Tai Kok Tsui.