Second Filipina domestic helper quarantined

Lei Yue Mun Park, picture taken by Wpcpey from Wikimedia Commons

The Health Department confirmed on Feb.5,2020 that a second Filipina domestic helper has been quarantined after her employer tested positive for the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov).

According to the Philippine Consulate General, however, she remains healthy and does not have symptoms of the illness, which has infected at least 17 people in Hong Kong so far, with one reported death.

The domestic helper has to be quarantined as her employer, a 72-year-old woman, tested positive for 2019-nCov despite not having been to mainland China recently. They lived in Block 1, Site 11, Whampoa Garden. The employer has been transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital.

Aside from the domestic helper, those who were also sent to Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village for a 14-day quarantine include the employer’s daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter.

Prior to this, a Filipina domestic helper has also been quarantined on Jan.25 after her employer’s parents tested positive for 2019-nCoV. The virus has infected over 20,000 people in 27 countries and territories, most of whom are from mainland China where it originated.