In this file photo taken on Dec 21, 2020, people exercise in Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, South China. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported one new imported COVID-19 case on Wednesday, bringing the city’s tally to 12, 411.
The Centre for Health Protection said in a statement that the case involved an 8-year-old girl from South Korea who was infected with a mutant strain of the virus.
She is a close contact of a 35-year-old woman from South Korea who arrived in Hong Kong on Nov 13, the CHP said.
The Centre for Health Protection said in a statement that the case involved an 8-year-old girl from South Korea who was infected with a mutant strain of the virus
The girl tested positive at the Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre and started showing COVID-19 symptoms on Nov 22, it added.
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The CHP also said that 41 cases were reported in Hogn Kong from Nov 10 to 23 and all of them were imported.
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said Hong Kong has to do more to prevent any resurgence of the virus.
Some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 rules have been instituted in Hong Kong, including building a dashboard to look at where cases are and sewage surveillance that can track infections, Chan said at Wednesday’s Asia Summit on Global Health in Hong Kong.
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“Is it enough? I don’t think it’s enough,” she said. “There are many, many areas that we need to further digitalize, in terms of contact tracing, in terms of much of the work of databases we are putting together. The health code we are developing if we are to pursue cross-border travel with the mainland. All these are things we need to continue to work on. Because this is a global pandemic. This is something that’s not contained.”
In a separate statement, the government said Chief Secretary for Administration John Lee Ka-chiu led representatives of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to Shenzhen on Wednesday to attend the second meeting on the resumption of quarantine-free travel between the SAR and the Chinese mainland.
HKSAR representatives who will attend the meeting include Chan, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang, Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Clement Woo, and representatives of the Department of Health, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the Security Bureau, the Transport and Housing Bureau and other related bureaus and departments.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is offering to reimburse its Hong Kong employees as much as HK$40,000 ($5,100) to compensate for quarantine costs.
The one-time reimbursement will be available to all Hong Kong permanent employees when they return from a personal trip to visit immediate family members, including spouses, domestic partners, children, parents and grandparents, the US bank said in a memo. A spokesman confirmed its contents.
With Bloomberg inputs