Newly-arrived DHs from PH, Indonesia among 7 new COVID-19 cases

November 1, 2020

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

Hong Kong health authorities confirmed seven new infections of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Sunday, including two domestic workers who recently arrived in the city.

The Centre for Health Protection said a 34-year-old female from the Philippines arrived on Oct. 13 via Hong Kong Airlines flight HX782. She started having symptoms on Oct. 16.

The 30-year-old female from Indonesia went under quarantine at The Charterhouse Causeway Bay Hotel in Wan Chai.

The two are among the six imported COVID-19 cases—the others hailed from Indonesia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan said the lone local case without a known source of infection is a Chinese national illegally staying in Hong Kong and is set to be repatriated.

The woman, aged 42, was arrested during a police operation on Oct. 28. She had stayed in a hotel along Tong Mi Road in Mong Kok.

She was then detained at the Mong Kok police station. On Oct. 30, the Chinese national was brought to the Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre, and to Ma Tau Kok Detention Centre after.

Detainees and staff who shared space with her in those centres will be quarantined, Chuang said. Sample bottles will also be distributed to other staff.

Chuang said there are less than 10 preliminarily positive COVID-19 cases. Among these is a female clerk, 26, who worked in Wong Chuk Hang.

A 15-year-old male relative who studies at the Fanling Lutheran Secondary School ate with the clerk on Oct. 27. He started feeling unwell on Oct. 31 and tested preliminarily positive for COVID-19.

The teen male’s school will close for 14 days for cleaning.

A friend of the 26-year-old who had gone to Silvermine Bay also tested preliminary positive. He had eaten at hotpot in Fan Ling.

Chuang said these linked infections are considered a COVID-19 outbreak in the city and more people are expected to test positive.

The number of daily confirmed infections raised Hong Kong’s COVID-19 case total to 5,331.