5 Pinay domestic workers from same agency test positive for COVID-19

Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection. (SCREENSHOT: isd.gov.hk)

Five Filipino domestic workers who recently arrived from Manila tested positive for the coronavirus in Hong Kong, health authorities revealed Friday.

Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said the five confirmed cases were flown into the city by their employment agency on Sept. 9 onboard flight HX782, and tested positive at the airport. Another one tested preliminary positive, and the 13 others with them were quarantined.

Chuang said the domestic workers lived in the agency dormitory in Manila. She did not name the agency in question.

Another returnee from Manila also tested positive for the coronavirus.

The six infected Filipinos are among the nine imported cases recorded as of midnight Tuesday. A seafarer from Nepal, a Hong Kong local returning from the United Kingdom, and a pilot who flew in from the United States were also confirmed to have the coronavirus.

Three of the 12 confirmed cases today are local transmissions. The five-year-old son of an infected woman was confirmed to have the coronavirus today after testing preliminary positive yesterday.

Two of the local cases were detected through the universal community testing program. One is an asymptomatic housewife, 71, who submitted her sample on Sept. 7 at the Choi Lam Estate testing center.

The other is a 56-year-old restaurant staff member in Metro Park Hotel. Previous infections have been recorded on the same floor where she worked, but Chuang said they have not come in contact with her.

Her colleagues have been tested for the coronavirus. Chuang said they are investigating if her infection could be linked to previous cases.

Chuang said there were around a dozen preliminary positive cases recorded.

The daily tally brought the total number of cases in Hong Kong to 4,926.

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