Two Care Homes Evacuated After Covid Cases

About 130 elderly residents and staff at two elderly care homes will have to be evacuated after one resident contracted Covid-19 and another tested preliminary positive.

The news comes after the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) reported 27 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, of which 18 were local infections. Seven of the local cases had no known source of infection.

The centre's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said that among the local infections was a resident at the Fung Shing Nursing Home in Kwai Chung.

The resident, an 81-year-old male sought medical treatment on Sunday for other illnesses, and started feeling a shortness of breath on Wednesday. His case had no known source.

Chuang said the home in question occupied one open-plan floor, the residents and staff could freely move around.

About 70 residents and more than 10 employees at the home will have to be evacuated and quarantined. The group may be sent to either AsiaWorld Expo, Cheung Muk Tou Holiday Centre for the Elderly, or Pokfulam depending their mobility and suitability of those quarantine facilities.

Chuang also said that among the preliminary positive cases was a resident at the Hei Yuet Home for the Aged in Tai Kok Tsui who recorded a fever on Thursday.

He often goes to Kwong Wah Hospital for dialysis and had tested negative upon his last visit.

She said that because he was allowed to go out of the home, he may have caught the virus in the community. About 40 residents and 10 employees at the home will be evacuated and quarantined.

Chuang also revealed that a doctor who works at a clinic in To Kwa Wan is also among those who tested preliminary positive after a dispenser at his clinic, the Kan Chi Leung David Doctors Clinic, was listed as a confirmed case on Thursday.

The dispenser's last day of work at the clinic was August 12 and she recorded a fever the following day. She sought medical help after her condition worsened on Thursday.

Chuang said they were tracing any patients who had visited the doctor's clinic, and that five nurses and one cleaner who worked at the clinic will be quarantined.

Meanwhile, a chief manager for the Hospital Authority, Dr Lau Ka-hin, said that another elderly Covid patient died on Friday, bringing the total number of virus-linked deaths to 75.

The deceased, a 71-year-old male, died at the Kwong Wah Hospital.