By The SUN
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| The Filipina DH with the mutant strain came aboard 5J272 on Dec 27 |
Hong Kong health authorities have
reported 14 more confirmed Covid-19 cases today, Dec 29, including a Filipina domestic
worker who carried the N501Y mutant strain on her arrival from Manila,
indicating that she could have the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The 36-year-old Filipina flew in on Dec 27 aboard Cebu Pacific flight 5J272, and tested positive on arrival at Hong Kong Airport.
If the full genome sequencing on her sample shows she has Omicron, she would be the first from the Philippines to come to Hong Kong with the dreaded variant.
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In its statement today, the Centre for Health Protection also said 12 previous cases with the N501Y mutant strain were confirmed to be Omicron carriers after further investigation by the public laboratory of the Department of Health.
Cases 12578, 12579, 12581, 12582,
12583, 12584, 12585, 12586, 12588, 12591, 12593 and 12594 all carried the
Omicron. They comprised four men and eight women, aged 19 to 79 years old.
So far, a total of 70 Omicron cases have been
found in Hong Kong.
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Today’s new Covid-19 cases took Hong Kong’s total tally to 12,619, including one probable case.
Eleven of the new cases carried the N501Y mutant strain, including the Filipina. Two had insufficient viral load for variant testing while one test result is pending.
Among those with the mutant strain is a male Cathay Pacific air crew aged 44 who arrived from Chicago on Dec 25 via CX2807. He tested negative on arrival, and went home to Tower 1, The SeaCrest, Tuen Mun.
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He developed symptoms on Dec 26 and his sample collected at a community testing centre showed he had Covid-19 with the N501Y mutant strain.
His preliminary positive test result, along with the confirmed infections of two more Cathay air crew yesterday, prompted health authorities to cancel quarantine exemptions for all air cargo staff arriving from overseas. Henceforth, they will have to undergo three days' hotel quarantine.
However, a lockdown on his residential building, along with one in Twilight Court, Peninsula Village in Discovery Bay where one of his confirmed colleagues lives, yielded no new case.
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| No new case was found during the lockdown of Twilight Court in Discovery Bay |
Also included among today’s new cases is a 42-year-old female air crew of Wamos Air who flew in aboard flight PLM254P from Germany and Spain. She also carried the N501Y mutant strain.
Three of the new cases
all flew in aboard CX829 from Toronto, Canada on Dec 28, prompting the issuance
of a two-week flight suspension on that route, or until Jan. 11.
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The patients are all
males, aged 24, 41 and 61, and carried the N501Y strain. They tested positive
on their arrival test.
A similar ban was imposed
on CX881 from Los Angeles, USA, after its flights on Dec 26 and 28 each had two
passengers who were confirmed to have Covid-19 on arrival in Hong Kong. Under
current rules, the ban is also triggered when a total of four passengers test
positive on arrival in Hong Kong within a seven-day period.
The latest passengers
from this flight who have been confirmed to have the coronavirus are a 63-year-old
man who arrived on Dec 26 and a 46-year-old woman who came on Dec 28.
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Two of today’s patients
who did not have sufficient viral load for testing were a 16-year-old girl who
came from the US via CX893 on Dec 26 and a 19-year-old male patient who flew in
from the United Kingdom via Finland aboard AY101 on Dec 28.
The test result of one
patient, a 29-year-old AeroLogic crewman who came from Singapore, Germany and
the USA via 3S502 on Dec 27, is still pending.
The other N501Y carriers are a 35-year-old man who arrived from
France and the UK via Finland on AY101 on Dec 27; a 21-year-old woman
who arrived from Chicago, USA via CX2807 on Dec. 28; and a man aged 26 from Australia who arrived via CX104 on Dec 27.
Among the patients, the
15-year-old girl from the US, lived on Tower 6 of The Belcher’s in Pok Fu Lam
during the incubation period. Thus, her place of residence and places she has
visited will be put under a CTN.
Those covered by a CTN in relation
to the following premises are reminded to undergo testing tomorrow, Dec 30:
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On Hei House, Siu Hei Court, 201 Wu Chui Road, Tuen
Mun
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One South Lane, 1 South Lane, Shek Tong Tsui
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Twilight Court, Peninsula Village, 2 Caperidge
Drive, Discovery Bay, Lantau Island
· Tower 1, The SeaCrest, Hang Kwai Street, Tuen Mun
The CHP's epidemiological
investigations and contact tracing on confirmed cases are ongoing. For case
details and contact tracing information, please see the Annex or the “Covid-19
Thematic Website” (www.coronavirus.gov.hk).
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