Residents of Kornhill Block N2 in Taikoo who have no symptoms leave their homes on May 6, 2021 and will be quarantined for 21 days in Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government on Thursday night cordoned off a building in Chai Wan for targeted testing after a case involving a highly transmissible COVID-19 mutant strain was found there.
In a statement, the government said it sealed off Fung Hing House, Hing Wah (II) Estate, 18 Wan Tsui Road, Chai Wan at 9 pm and required its residents to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing for the virus.
A 29-year-old man from Dubai, who had tested positive for the N501Y variant, and a Filipino woman he stayed with had attended a family party on April 13 at Fung Hing House
“As a preliminary positive case was detected in Fung Hing House, Hing Wah (II) Estate today and the preliminary test result involved a mutant strain, the risk of infection in the relevant area is assessed to be likely higher, the government decided to make a 'restriction-testing declaration' for the relevant area after the test result was found positive,” a government spokesman was quoted as saying in the statement.
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A 29-year-old man from Dubai, who had tested positive for the N501Y variant, and a Filipino woman he stayed with had attended a family party on April 13 at Fung Hing House. On May 3, a sewage sample from the building tested positive for the virus.
The government set up temporary specimen collection stations at the "restricted area" and asked persons subject to compulsory testing to undergo testing before 2 am Friday.
Government personnel arranged door-to-door specimen collection for people with impaired mobility and elderly persons. The government planned to finish the operation by 7 am.
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It earlier conducted separate targeted testing operations in two buildings in Quarry Bay and Pok Fu Lam, where two foreign domestic helpers who had the virus variant were employed. Around 460 residents of the Quarry Bay block and around 110 persons from the Pok Fu Lam building underwent tests but they were all negative for the virus.