Residents of Kornhill Block N2 in Taikoo were required to undergo tests for COVID-19 on May 5, 2021. Those who have no symptoms will be quarantined for 21 days in Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported six new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as the government prepared to evacuate 260 households from two residential buildings on Hong Kong Island for quarantine after two foreign domestic helpers there were found with the N501Y coronavirus strain.
The two Filipino helpers, aged 38 and 46 respectively, had attended gatherings together, and both were found infected by coronavirus mutations. Their infections were identified by an ongoing mandatory testing program targeting the city’s 370,000 foreign domestic helpers
Asymptomatic residents from Kornhill Block N2 in Quarry Bay and Royalton in Pok Fu Lam will be sent to government facilities for quarantine, the Centre for Health Protection said in a statement Wednesday morning. Those who are already showing symptoms will be sent to hospitals for treatment.
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As preliminary results for the two helpers showed a mutant strain, the residents were ordered to stay at home since midnight Tuesday for mandatory testing, which started at 9 am Wednesday.
The quarantine order came at around 11:30 am Wednesday after the government confirmed that both cases involved the highly transmissible variant.
The two Filipino helpers, aged 38 and 46, had attended gatherings together, and both were found with the mutated strain. Their infections were identified through an ongoing mandatory testing program targeting the city’s 370,000 foreign domestic helpers.
Residents of Kornhill Block N2 in Taikoo were required to undergo tests for COVID-19 on May 5, 2021. Those who have no symptoms will be quarantined for 21 days in Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
The two helpers were among the six new COVID-19 patients the city confirmed on Wednesday. The case of the helper in Quarry Bay was classified as untraceable.
One of the new cases involved the employer of a helper in Tung Chung whose infection triggered the city-wide testing drive for helpers.
The 36-year-old employer is the mother of an infected 10-month-old girl who was under the helper's care. All three of them had the N501Y strain.
The other three new cases were all imported from Nepal, according to a statement issued by the CHP. Flights from the country had been banned.
Hong Kong’s total of confirmed cases rose to 11,796, with 210 related deaths.
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In the heavy rainstorm on Tuesday evening, Block R of Allway Gardens in Tsuen Wan was also sealed off for testing after a 48-year-old Filipino helper who was employed there also tested positive for the N501Y mutation.
According to government records, five domestic helpers have been infected locally with COVID-19 variants, including a helper from the Philippines who was quarantined at a hotel in Sai Ying Pun where two other people staying in an adjacent room also had the N501Y strain.
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Around 573,000 people have been fully vaccinated with two doses since the government launched a citywide vaccination program in late February.