A government staff member collects samples through combined nasal and throat swabs from a resident of Block 1, Bo Shek Mansion, 328 Road, Tsuen Wan, which was cordoned off Sunday night after one of its residents tested positive for a COVID-19 variant. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)
HONG KONG – Around 570 residents of a Tsuen Wan building were tested overnight after a 56-year-old man who lives there was infected with a variant strain of COVID-19.
In a statement, the government said it cordoned off Block 1, Bo Shek Mansion, 328 Road, Tsuen Wan at 7 pm Sunday night and had all of its residents undergo compulsory testing.
The government said it cordoned off Block 1, Bo Shek Mansion, 328 Road, Tsuen Wan at 7 pm Sunday night and had all of its residents undergo compulsory testing
No one tested positive for the virus and the government finished the tests at around 6:45 am Tuesday. Eight households did not answer when government personnel knocked on their doors.
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The case the sparked the compulsory tests involved a 56-year-old man who had traveled to Dubai and returned to Hong Kong on Aug 18.
The results of his pre-departure test conducted on August 14 in Hong Kong and specimen collected upon arrival in the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre at Hong Kong International Airport were both negative for COVID-19.
However, the sample collected from him on August 20 at a designated quarantine hotel tested positive for the virus.
A test conducted by the Department of Health's Public Health Laboratory Services Branch showed that the patient carried the L452R mutant strain but not the N501Y or E484K mutant genes.
The patient had received two doses of the Sinovac vaccine on March 20 and May 1 in Hong Kong. He also tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies on July 12, the Centre for Health Protection said.
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