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| Those evacuated and put under quarantine are residents of flats 12 and 10 in Luk Shuen House, Lek Yuen estate |
Health officials have ordered the evacuation of some
residents in Luk Chuen House at Lek Yuen estate in Shatin, after another person
living in the building tested preliminary positive today, Jun 4.
Six people living in the building have tested positive for
Covid-19, and one of them appears to have infected three other people.
The move came as five additional cases were confirmed today,
all involving residents who flew into Hong Kong from Bangladesh Hong Kong ’s tally to 1,098, with four deaths.
According to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan at today’s press briefing,
all those who live in flats numbered 10 and 12 in Luk Chuen House were
evacuated and sent to a quarantine center for observation.
People living in three flats numbered 12, as well as a
resident of one numbered 10, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Checks conducted in the building earlier ruled out a problem
with the sewage pipes, but the officials today said this angle is being looked
into again, after a 72-year-old man living in a flat numbered 12 showed initial
signs of infection.
“We will inspect in detail whether there are other problems,
such as sewage pipes, with those flats,” said Chuang.
Undersecretary for the environment Tse Chin-wan said architectural
drawings showed the affected flats numbered 12 and 10 were connected to the
same vent pipe and faced the same direction.
“We cannot rule out that the pipe was another route of
transmission,” Tse said. He added it could be the virus spread from flats
numbered 12 to those numbered 10.
According to Chuang, the elderly man who tested preliminary
positive, lives with his wife and a daughter in a flat numbered 12 on the 11th
floor.
His initial test result tested negative on Monday, but he
developed a mild fever on Wednesday afternoon and was sent to hospital on
Thursday morning, where he was tested again, and was found infected.
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| The index patient in the cluster remains in critical condition in Prince of Wales Hospital |
The first case in the cluster is a 34-year-old woman who
works at a Kerry Logistics warehouse in Kwai Chung and lives in a flat three
floors below the man. She was sent to Prince of Wales Hospital in Shatin on
Saturday, where she remains in critical condition.
Also found infected were her husband, four of her neighbors,
two of her colleagues, and the medical worker who attended to her before she
was sent to hospital.
Health officials left about 1,900 sample bottles for
residents in her building, and about 1,200 have been sent back for testing.
All, except the cases reported earlier, tested negative for the virus.
Chuang said residents in six flats have not been located,
although there is a possibility that they had left Hong
Kong before the infection broke out. But she said they had sought
police help to locate the missing residents so they can be tested.
