Helpers from PH, Indonesia among 90 new COVID-19 cases

December 3, 2020

The Centre for Health Protection in Kowloon City.

Newly-arrived domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia were among the 90 new COVID-19 cases health authorities detected on Thursday.

The Centre for Health Protection reported the two workers, along with another returnee from the Philippines, were among the 11 imported cases. The other infected individuals from overseas hailed from Nepal, Russia, Pakistan, France, and Japan.

A spokesperson from the Department of Health said the Filipina domestic worker was aged 31 and the returnee was aged 68.

Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan from the CHP’s Communicable Disease Branch explained there were 31 new COVID-19 infections without traceable origins, the highest since Aug. 13 when 33 were reported.

“I think the situation is worrying,” Chuang said in Cantonese. “Because we cannot find any identifiable risk factor among these patients.”

Chuang said 21 of the local cases today could be linked to the dance cluster, bringing the number of infections connected to Hong Kong’s largest outbreak to 589. She cautioned against the lower number of cases linked to the cluster, as many of them remain asymptomatic and the transmission chains are difficult to detect.

“The whole cluster is 500 or 600-strong, and since the cluster is very big it is likely that the virus has continued to spread in the community,” she added.

Five more were traced back to the LOHAS Park construction site cluster and two more were linked to a residential care home in Shau Kei Wan.

Dr. Lau Ka-hin, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, said an 82-year-old woman first admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung on Nov. 14 had tested preliminarily positive. Her close contacts are 33 patients who shared a ward with her and 10 medical personnel who attended to her without donning proper personal protective equipment.

Of the 33 patients, 14 had been discharged and four died of other illnesses. The remaining 15 patients in the hospital tested negative for the coronavirus.

A patient with COVID-19 passed away on Thursday evening: an 82-year-old woman who was suffering from a fever, pneumonia, and septic shock. She was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei on Dec. 1 and later tested positive for the virus.

Her passing brings the number of COVID-19 related deaths in the city to 111. Hong Kong has recorded 6,590 cases of COVID-19 to date.