People rest on benches in a park at Tai Hing Estate in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, March 4, 2022. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong health authorities will enhance COVID-19 testing measures at the Shenzhen Bay Port, requiring departing passengers who test positive to go directly to the Penny's Bay community isolation facilitity, as the city recorded 3,674 new cases on Thursday.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said in a news briefing those leaving Hong Kong but test positive through nucleic acid testing at Shenzhen Bay Port will be issued an isolation order immediately and sent to the isolation center.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said the new cases on Thursday comprised 3,417 local infections and 257 imported cases
“Departing passengers must obtain a negative result to carry on with their journey. Failing that, they will go to a community isolation facility,” she said.
Travelers who tested positive were earlier allowed to return home, taking point-to-point transport, before they were issued isolation orders.
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Chuang said the new cases on Thursday comprised 3,417 local infections and 257 imported cases. Seventy-four of the imported cases came from the United Kingdom, 24 from Singapore, 19 from Thailand, 18 from Canada, 13 from France, and 11 from the Philippines.
She said four residential care homes had six confirmed cases while 292 schools reported 355 cases involving 285 students and 70 teachers.
Chuang also said 62 suspected BA.2.12.1 infections were detected, including 43 that were untraceable. She added that 32 BA.4 or BA.5 infections were also found.
Sara Ho, Chief Manager (Patient Safety and Risk Management) of the Hospital Authority, said in the same briefing that five COVID-19 patients passed away, including three women and two men aged 65 to 90 years old. They also suffered from hypertension, Parkinson’s disease, and pharyngeal cancer.
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Meanwhile, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said the “LeaveHomeSafe” app could also later show the nucleic acid test results of confirmed patients to help prevent the spread of the virus.
“Currently, our 'LeaveHomeSafe' app has no indicator about this important result. Therefore, we are working in the direction of using the 'LeaveHomeSafe' app to show the PCR results for identifying confirmed cases,” Sun said. “I think this is very important and it is beneficial to the community as a whole.”
The Department of Health also said that Director of Health Ronald Lam was undergoing quarantine after the Deputy Director of Health tested positive for the virus through a rapid antigen test.
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