The Government tonight made a restriction-testing declaration for Jovial Court, Peninsula Village in Discovery Bay due to a preliminary positive imported COVID-19 case involving the L452R mutant strain.

The Centre for Health Protection said the 23-year-old male patient returned from the US to Hong Kong.

He left on November 14 for the US after testing negative for COVID-19 on November 13. He arrived in the city on November 20 by flight CX521 and his specimen collected upon arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport tested positive for the virus.

The patient is symptomatic and his specimen carried the L452R mutant strain. He received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine on April 27 and May 18 in Hong Kong.

In view of the presence of a mutant strain, the Government decided to make a restriction-testing declaration for Jovial Court.

The declaration took effect from 7.40pm and aims to be finished by about 6am tomorrow. People in the restricted area are required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing before midnight.

Those who have undergone testing from November 19 to 21 and can provide the SMS notification or related certification containing the test results do not need to get tested again.

According to today’s compulsory testing notice, people who had been at the premises for more than two hours from October 30 to November 21 must undergo compulsory testing by November 23 even if they were not in the restricted area when the declaration took effect. Vaccinated people are also subject to the requirement.

Moreover, the places where the patient had visited in Hong Kong during the incubation period will also be included in a compulsory testing notice.