Dozens to be quarantined after attendees of CNY gatherings test positive for Covid-19

February 17, 2021

People visited the Wong Tai Sin temple on the first day of the Chinese New Year.

Health authorities will quarantine around 70 people after at least two attendees of Lunar New Year gatherings tested positive for Covid-19.

The Centre for Health Protection reported 16 new infections on Tuesday—twice as many as cases logged yesterday—pushing the city’s coronavirus caseload to 10,813.

Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan said that of the 12 local cases, 10 had no traceable source of infection.

A 34-year-old man who visited some relatives during the Lunar New Year break tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing 50 of his kin into quarantine.

Another office worker who joined social gatherings also contracted Covid-19, and 20 of his close contacts will be sent to quarantine centres.

Authorities have earlier warned about higher risks of Covid-19 transmission during the Chinese holiday when families gather.

“We will closely monitor the trend in the coming days to see if there’s any rebound of cases,” Chuang said.

The two Covid-19 cases with traceable origins recorded today were linked to the Kwai Chung Fire Station. Workers and visitors who have stayed in the station for more than two hours will have to get tested, Chuang said.

Four cases logged today were imported from outside Hong Kong; among is them a domestic worker from the Philippines who entered Hong Kong on Feb. 15. Another imported case is a returnee from Pakistan who was found to have the N501Y variant of the coronavirus. Hong Kong has recorded 38 infections from coronavirus variants to date.

Chuang said more than 10 tested preliminarily positive for the virus, with two to three of them being untraceable infections.

ADVERTISEMENT (Click to know more)