Whole Floor At Kwai Shing West Sent To Quarantine

Residents of a whole floor at the Kwai Shing West Estate have been sent to quarantine after three more people tested positive for Covid-19 there on Monday, taking the cluster to 15.

The three lived in separate flats on the fifth floor of Block 8. So far, the cluster involves eight flats on the floor.

"The CHP considered that all residents of the fifth floor have the risk of infecting and spreading the virus and hence all remaining residents of the fifth floor have been defined as close contacts," the Centre for Health Protection said in a statement issued just before midnight.

"They will be issued quarantine orders and be transferred to quarantine centre so as to stop the potential risk of further spread of the virus."

Earlier, health officials said they would consider mandatory testing for the virus at the public housing block.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said over a thousand residents had already submitted specimens.

She said she hoped more people, including some who had reportedly moved out of the block, would give samples voluntarily.

On Monday afternoon authorities reported 78 new coronavirus cases. Seventy-one were locally acquired, 29 of which came via unknown sources.

Later, the Prince of Wales Hospital said in a statement that a student at its School of Midwifery was confirmed as having Covid-19.