By Daisy CL Mandap
 |
| The two will appear in Kowloon City Court on Monday, May 10 |
A 29-year-old Indian man and his 31-year-old Filipina girlfriend who were the first locally identified carriers of a coronavirus variant have been charged in court with failing to disclose relevant information to investigators doing contact tracing.
A statement issued by the Department of Health late on Saturday said the man was charged with one count of giving false or misleading information while the woman faces a count of failing to comply with the requirement to give information.
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The alleged offences are said to be contrary to section 3(4) and section 3(2) of the Prevention and Control of Disease (Disclosure of Information) Regulation (Cap. 599D) respectively.
According to the statement, the man is suspected of giving false or misleading information to an authorized officer of the Centre for Health Protection during an epidemiological investigation conducted on Apr 16.
 |
| Pindutin para sa detalye |
The woman is accused of failing to comply with the legal requirement to give information to an authorized officer on Apr 17.
The two will appear at Kowloon City Magistracy on May 10 where their case is scheduled for mention.
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
They were arrested earlier on Saturday and taken to the Yau Ma Tei police station for questioning.
Five other cases involving the coronavirus variant had emerged in the community after the two were found infected. As the source was initially unknown in at least two of the cases, officials feared that a silent transmission was going on, particularly among foreign domestic helpers.
 |
| Call now! |
This led the government to order all of the city’s 370,000 FDHs to undergo tests for Covid-19.
At the same time, entire buildings where the infected patients lived were evacuated and all residents sent off to 21-day quarantine.
 |
| CALL US! |
Only after more information was obtained from the two that a direct link between them and the other cases was established.
Health experts say the Indian resident who flew in from Dubai on Mar 19 is the index patient in a cluster of variant cases involving eight people, five of them Filipinas. The two others are the female employer and a 10-month-old baby girl under the care of one of the Filipinas.
 |
| Tunghayan ang isa na namang kwentong Dream Love. |
The DH statement said that concealing or providing false or misleading information to an authorised officer is “grossly irresponsible” as this may hinder contact tracing process and pose serious threat to public health.
The statement warned that “resolute actions will be taken against anyone who has breached the relevant regulations.”
|
