Covid-19: Second Hong Kong public housing building placed under 5-day lockdown,
A five-day Covid-19 lockdown which began at Yat Kwai House at Kwai Chung Estate has been expanded to include a neighbouring building. Meanwhile, four other buildings in the estate were placed under an overnight lockdown for residents to be tested, the city’s leader announced on Saturday. The decision came after health authorities found over 100 Covid-19 cases in one day at the public housing estate.
The number of confirmed or preliminary positive cases at Kwai Chung Estate shot up from 9 to 105 in the space of two days, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said during a press conference on Saturday evening. The number shot up five-fold in one day, she said, showing that the outbreak was “spreading exponentially,” as seen in other countries affected by the Omicron variant.
Around 2,700 residents of Yat Kwai House were kept under home quarantine and were required undergo daily compulsory virus testing until Wednesday after over 20 people tested positive for the virus on Friday.
In all, 96 people at Yat Kwai House tested positive or preliminary positive on the first day of the five-day lockdown, including residents, visitors, and a cleaner who lived at Yat Kwai House but worked at another building on the public housing complex, Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said on Saturday afternoon.
Eight people at the neighbouring Ying Kwai House – which was placed under lockdown for compulsory testing between 4 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday – tested positive. A cleaner at a third building, Hiu Kwai House, also tested positive.
All of over 40 cleaners working at the housing estate were considered close contacts and will be placed in quarantine at Penny’s Bay.
To stem transmissions at Kwai Chung Estate, Ying Kwai House was also placed under lockdown for five days starting at 6 p.m. Saturday until next Thursday while residents undergo mandatory virus testing, Lam announced. Due to the short notice, the government was unable to supply any food to affected residents as caterers would need a minimum of four hours preparation, she said. They would be given three meals a day starting Sunday morning.
Four other buildings at the estate – Chin Kwai House, Hiu Kwai House, Yuk Kwai House and Nga Kwai House – were placed under restrictions overnight until Sunday morning or afternoon, while residents underwent compulsory testing.
All residents and visitors to the remaining 11 buildings at the estate and to two buildings at nearby Kwai Fuk Court were also issued with a compulsory testing order, although no lockdown is required.
The city added a total of 26 confirmed Covid-19 cases on Friday, of which one was imported and three had unknown sources of infection. Twelve of these cases were asymptomatic. Among them were two medical workers at…
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