A man with an umbrella (bottom center) crosses a road in Hong Kong on July 20, 2021, as weather patterns from Typhoon Cempaka brought heavy rain to the city. (ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government cordoned off buildings in Wan Chai and Taikoo Shing on Tuesday night for targeted testing after three COVID-19 cases were detected in these areas.
The government set up “restricted areas” at Leon Court, 12-14 Wong Nai Chung Gap Road, Wan Chai at around 7:30 pm and at Tang Kung Mansion, Kam Din Terrace, Taikoo Shing 30 minutes later, requiring their residents to stay in their homes to get tested.
The government set up “restricted areas” at Leon Court, 12-14 Wong Nai Chung Gap Road, Wan Chai at around 7:30 pm and at Tang Kung Mansion, Kam Din Terrace, Taikoo Shing 30 minutes later, requiring their residents to stay in their homes to get tested
The government said it expected to wrap up both operations by 7 am tomorrow.
In a statement, the Centre for Health Protection said that a 39-year-old male resident of Leon Court had tested positive for the L452R mutant strain.
During the past 21 days, the patient stayed in Hong Kong from June 27 until July 2, when he travelled to France. He came back to Hong Kong via Doha, Qatar on July 18, the CHP said.
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It said the patient, who had no symptoms, gave a specimen upon arrival at the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre of the Hong Kong International Airport and it tested positive for COVID-19.
“As the patient has spent the majority of his incubation period in France, the patient is likely to have been infected recently in France,” the CHP said, adding that the infection was classified as an imported case.
It also said that the patient received two doses of the Comirnaty vaccine on April 6 and 27 in Hong Kong and his blood specimen tested positive for anti-spike protein antibody on June 23.
Meanwhile, a 13-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother, both residents of Tang Kung Mansion, also tested preliminarily positive for the virus, with the girl having the L452R mutant strain, the CHP said.
It said they arrived in Hong Kong from Saudi Arabia on July 16 but had negative results when they were tested at the airport.
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The siblings quarantined themselves at home but the deep throat saliva samples they submitted three days after their arrival tested preliminarily positive, the CHP said.
“The test result by the DH's Public Health Laboratory Services Branch revealed that the female patient carries the L452R mutant strain but does not carry N501Y or E484K mutant genes, while the result of the male patient is pending,” it said.
“The female patient developed fever on July 17 while the male patient has been asymptomatic,” the CHP added.
Since the patients spent the majority of their incubation periods in Saudi Arabia, the CHP said they were likely to have been infected there. It added that their infections were classified as imported cases.