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| The area around WorldWide House in Central is a favorite gathering place of Filipinos on Sundays |
Hong Kong police have stepped up patrols this weekend in
places where foreign domestic workers gather, amid fears that Covid-19 could
spread among them, after two Indonesian domestic workers who had stayed in
cramped dormitories tested positive earlier this week.
This is despite reports from the city’s health
officials that no infections were found in at least three of the boarding
houses where the Indonesian domestic workers who tested positive on Aug 5 and 6,
had stayed.
At today’s daily press briefing on Covid-19, Dr Chuang
Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said that the latest results for
tests done on people in boarding houses where the Indonesian workers had stayed
all had negative results.
The latest tests were done on about 20 FDWs who had
stayed at the dormitory run by Sunlight employment agency in North Point, and more
than 14 others at another agency shelter in Sheung Wan.
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| Chuang says all tests made on FDWs and staff in three agency-run shelters have had negative results |
Chuang said authorities have yet to trace the owner of
a unit in Haven Court in Causeway Bay where the first patient had stayed, but
she is hopeful that no new infections would emerge from there as well.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Still, she urged FDWs and family members who tend to
gather during the weekends to maintain social distancing to prevent further
infections.
Chuang made the disclosure as she reported 69 new
cases today, which pushed the total tally to 4,008. Only two of the cases were
imported, both involving returnees from India, one of them a baby.
There were 37 cases linked to previous infections,
most of them involving family members who had gathered for meals; while the
source for the 30 others could not be traced. Around 40 preliminary positive
cases were also noted.
Among the emerging clusters was one involving family
members living in six different flats in a housing estate in Cheung Sha Wan.
Chuang said specimen bottles have been distributed among residents, as it was
possible environmental contamination had occurred.
Hospital Authority’s Lau Ka-hin reported that an
86-year-old female patient had passed away last night at Prince of Wales
hospital, raising the death toll to 47. Most of the fatalities are elderly
patients.
As of 9am today, 1,068 patients are in 18 hospitals,
as well as Lei Yue Mun, AsiaWorld-Expo. Of these, 45 are in critical condition,
51 are serious, and 972 are stable.
Yesterday, Labour Secretary Law Chi-kwong said during
a press conference of government officials led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam,
that police will step up patrols at FDW haunts this weekend.
The reason for this, according to Law, is to make FDWs
know about the law that limits public gatherings to two people, and the
requirement for them to wear masks in public places.
He said 12 FDHs have each been fined $2,000 for
violating the gathering ban.
The labour chief also confirmed that FDWs staying in
boarding houses run by employment agencies will be given free Covid-19 tests, “to
minimize the risk of cross infection.”
From Monday, the agencies will also be given masks
which they should pass on to FDWs staying in their shelters.
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| PADALA NA! |
