HK: Containment measures to stay despite single-digit new cases

HONG KONG – The city reported two new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, marking the eighth straight day of a single-digit increase and taking the local tally to 1,025.

The patient of one of the new cases is a 47-year-old ground staff at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) in charge of arranging arrivals from the United Kingdom and answering their questions. The patient is believed to have worked at the airport during the incubation period for several days.

The case has been listed as a local infection while the source of transmission remains unknown.

The Department of Health will test 69 colleagues of the patient to ascertain if there are more infections that could help trace the source.

Health officials did not rule out the possibility that the patient was infected by a passenger returning to Hong Kong via the airport, or that her working environment had been polluted.

The other patient is a 35-year-old man who returned to Hong Kong from the UK on Friday. His sample taken at the airport tested positive for the virus.

Speaking at a daily press conference on Sunday, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said that she understood people were bored staying home for such a long period of time.

But the risk of local transmission has remained, she warned, urging people to continue avoiding non-essential travel and to take fully protection measures when they have to go out.

As some patients are showing no syndromes, Chuang reminded people with travel history or those who had contacts with travelers to be watchful of their health conditions and seek medical attention for virus tests sooner when they feel unwell.

Some patients who have mild syndromes mistakenly thought they only have common diseases, she warned.

In the past 24 hours, another 37 patients were discharged from hospitals. Total 602 have recovered while 418 are remaining in hospitals. More recoveries and fewer new cases have lowered the occupancy rate of isolation beds to less than 50 percent.