The SUN HK : Tai Po boarding house yields 10 more Covid-19 cases; all visitors must now get tested

By Daisy CL Mandap

There are now 12 Covid-19 cases linked to Flat 1C of Fung Nin Building in Tai Po

Hong Kong health officials have reported six new infections from a Tai Po boarding house where two Filipina domestic workers tested positive yesterday, making a total of eight confirmed cases. Five of the new cases are Filipinas, and the other is Indonesian.

Four family members from the household where one of the first two infected Filipinas worked have also tested positive, making a total of 12 infections from the cluster.

The new cases prompted a mandatory testing order to be issued on everyone who visited Flat 1C of Fung Nin Building, 28-32 Tai Wing Lane, Tai Po, for at least two hours from Nov 15. Anyone who does not comply with the order is liable to pay a fixed penalty of $5,000.

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Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said help would be sought from the Philippine and Indonesian consulates in disseminating the information among their nationals to ensure the mandatory testing order is complied with.

Consul General Raly Tejada said the Consulate is already liasing with the CHP on the matter, and has called for calm.

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“Your Consulate General is currently coordinating with Hong Kong authorities in order to address the reported outbreak in a dormitory involving some of our nationals. In this regard, I am appealing to everyone to remain calm, exercise vigilance and strictly observe social distancing rules,” he said in a statement sent a few minutes ago.

“We have assurances from Hong Kong authorities that those who got infected will receive the best treatment and medical care. However, in order to ensure everyone’s safety and well-being I strongly urge anyone exposed to the said dormitory cluster to come forward and get tested. It is the responsible thing to do.

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“We will get through this together. Take care and stay safe, mga Kababayan.”

Chuang says 33 close contacts of the confirmed patients have been put in a quarantine center

Chuang said 33 close contacts of the 12 confirmed cases have been identified and placed under quarantine. They include some employers and their family members.

She also said many of the confirmed FDHs live with their employers, raising concern of the virus spreading in their homes, but there was one or two who was living in the dormitory. All the rest either went there at night, or during the weekends.

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"We do have information on those who visited and they have been sent to the quarantine center but we are afraid we might have missed some," she said.

She added it was difficult to determine when the virus might have spread in the boarding house as there were some asymptomatic patients. That was the reason the mandatory testing order was expanded to include those who had been to the premises from a month ago, Chuang added.

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The 10 new cases linked to the boarding house cluster were among 98 new infections reported today, Dec 15, by the Centre for Health Protection. Nine of the new cases are imported while 89 were locally acquired. Among these, 59 were linked to previous cases while 30 were of unknown sources.

Two new deaths were also reported, raising the fatality toll in public hospitals to 119. They are a 79-year-old man who passed away at Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 1am today, and a 64-year-old woman who succumbed to the illness at 12:22pm at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.

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The nine imported cases include two newly arrived foreign domestic workers from Indonesia, one aged 44, and the other, 33.

The others were four returnees from the United Kingdom, three males and one female aged between 15 to 17; a 61-year-old man from the United States; an 18-year-old male from Pakistan, and a 61-year-old female from Nepal.

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The Hospital Authority says there are 1,126 confirmed patients still being treated in 23 public hospitals and the AsiaWorld-Expo treatment facility. Among these, 50 are in critical condition, 75 are seriously ill, and the 1,001 others are in stable condition.