HK records 18 COVID-19 cases

April 17, 2021

(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

  

The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating 18 additional COVID-19 cases, eight of which are locally transmitted.

 

Of the local cases, six are of unknown sources of infection, including a case involving a 29-year-old man who arrived from Dubai on March 19.

 

He underwent a 21-day quarantine at the Ramada Hong Kong Grand in Tsim Sha Tsui, and moved to his friend’s place at Parkes Building in Jordan upon completion of the quarantine on April 9.

 

He took another COVID-19 test at a community testing centre in Yau Ma Tei on April 15 as he planned to fly back to Dubai the next day. He tested positive and the centre found that the N501Y mutant strain was involved.

 

At a press briefing today, the centre's Communicable Disease Branch Head Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said the centre is investigating how the patient got infected.

 

“For the possible source of infection for the patient of case number 11643, we are still investigating. There are a few possibilities. He either got infected overseas in Dubai. Coupled with a long incubation period, those COVID-19 tests in the hotel could not detect that he was infected. So we are not sure about this.

 

“The other possibility is that he acquired the infection after arrival in Hong Kong, either on the flight, at the airport or in the hotel. These are all the possibilities we have to examine.

 

“And the third possibility is that after quarantine, he went to the community, so he might have gotten the infection from the community. The source is unknown at the moment.

 

"This is a worrying situation, especially the third possibility. That’s why we are taking very stringent measures and issue compulsory testing notices for all the places he visited to try to catch any undiagnosed cases or any spread involving the virus variant. We are still investigating."

 

Seven places where this patient had been to, together with another three buildings, a company, a shop and a fitness centre, are now included in the compulsory testing notice.

 

The Government will set up mobile specimen collection stations for people subject to compulsory testing. Another seven mobile stations will extend their services.

 

Among the imported cases, seven patients arrived from India, while the others are from the Philippines and Indonesia.

 

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

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