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| The baby, though without symptoms, has been taken to PYN Eastern Hospital for treatment |
A 14-month-old baby girl who traveled with her
family from London, along with their foreign domestic worker who tested
positive for Covid-19 earlier, is among the new confirmed cases reported in
Hong Kong today, Apr 13.
A stool sample from the baby, who has no symptoms,
reportedly turned an initial positive result on Apr 9, and a second test
confirmed the finding. She was taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital for
treatment.
Two days earlier, her family’s 32-year-old domestic
worker was found infected while under quarantine in her employer’s flat in Old
Peak Road, Mid-Levels. After she tested positive, the employer’s family was put
in a quarantine center, where the baby was also found to have the virus.
Records from the Centre for Health Protection show
the domestic worker was in the United Kingdom from Feb 1 to Apr 7. On Mar 28
she developed a fever there, but records do not show if she had sought
treatment.
On Apr 7 she, along with her employer’s family,
traveled on Cathay Pacific flight CX 252 from London. Her seat number was 60A, while the baby was
on 16G/D, apparently with her parents.
After testing positive, the helper was sent to Queen
Mary Hospital for treatment.
Her employers remain under observation in the quarantine
centre.
Meanwhile, three other confirmed cases had also
flown in from abroad. One visited the U.K., another, Indonesia, while a third was
on board the Coral Princess cruise ship that traveled from Argentina and
Paraguay.
The fifth case is a family member of a previously reported
case.
Hong Kong’s total tally has now reached 1,010, and
today is the second consecutive day that the number on infections was below 10.
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| Health officials warn the numbers may spike again after the holidays if people persist on gathering |
Despite the apparent sign that the contamination has
slowed down, CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan has repeated the warning for people not
to get complacent.
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"I think the low number of cases reported may
be related to the low number of travelers coming back to Hong Kong, because if
the denominator is fewer, then the numerators are fewer, because most of the
cases recently reported are imported cases,” Chuang said. “So it may be related
to the number of travelers.”
She also said the lower numbers could be due to
fewer tests being carried out by private clinics that have shut down over the
four-day Easter break.
Like other health experts, she said a further
outbreak could happen within the next two weeks if people continue to ignore
the government’s rules on social distancing.
"Because in the recent few days we have seen a
lot of people coming out, we cannot exclude the possibility of a further
outbreak in one or two weeks’ time, but it may not be tomorrow because there is
a lap time of incubation period for this virus,” she said.
The warning comes as thousands of people again
ventured outdoors to take advantage of the good weather during the long weekend
which ends today.
