7 more Filipina DHs aboard banned Cebu Pac flight among 26 new Covid-19 cases

By Daisy CL Mandap 

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There are now 10 confirmed Covid-19 cases from the 5J272 flight that arrived in HK on Dec 29

Seven more Filipina domestic workers who took Cebu Pacific flight 5J272 on Dec 29 have tested positive for Covid-19 with the Omicron mutant strains. They took the total number of infected passengers from that flight to 10, the biggest number from a single flight from Manila to date.

Three passengers from that flight earlier tested positive on arrival at Hong Kong Airport, causing the two-week suspension of 5J272 on Dec 30.

The seven Filipinas were among 26 confirmed cases reported by the Centre for Health Protection on Sunday, Jan 2. They took Hong Kong’s total tally of Covid-19 positive cases to 12,693.

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Of the seven infected Filipinas, all but one were asymptomatic, and all were fully vaccinated in the Philippines. Four of them, aged 25, 27, 29 and 41were staying at Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre while three, aged 30, 39 and 47 were at Courtyard Hotel in Shatin.

They took to 25 the total number of passengers from the Philippines found to carry the highly transmissible variant since Wednesday, Dec 29.

Apart from Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines has also been suspended from flying to Hong Kong starting on Dec 31 after six of its passengers tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong a day earlier. That left only Cathay Pacific flying passengers from Manila to Hong Kong.

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Meanwhile, passenger flight KL819 operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam has also been banned from flying to Hong Kong effective Sunday after six of its passengers tested positive on arrival on Dec 31.

The infected passengers from that flight were aged 21 to 30, and had taken the flight in the  Netherlands after traveling to various places across Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Portugal and Finland. They comprised three men and three women.

Also suspended was Cathay Pacific’s flight CX216 from Manchester, UK after three passengers on its Jan 1 trip tested positive on arrival. They comprised two women aged 27 and 46, and one man aged 22.

There are now 4 confirmed and 1 preliminary positive case from Moon Palace 

Of the newly reported cases, one was classified as possibly import-related. It pertains to a 50-year-old woman who had lunch at Moon Palace restaurant at Festival Walk on Dec 27, at about the same time as three other diners who had earlier tested positive for the Omicron variant.

She was moved to Penny’s Bay on Dec 31, and her specimen collected on that day tested positive.

Her residential building in Ma On Shan was locked down overnight on Saturday, but no new case was found.

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The CHP said it is also investigating a preliminarily positive case linked to Moon Palace. It involves the 38-year-old wife of a construction worker who was among those who tested positive for Covid-19 earlier. 

The couple had dined at the restaurant together on Dec 27 between 2:30pm and 4pm, and were seated about 10 meters away from the male aircrew who is suspected to have spread the coronavirus at the venue.

After being identified as a close contact of her husband, the woman was moved to Penny’s Bay on Dec 30. She developed a sore throat on Jan 1 and her sample tested preliminary positive the next day.

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The places where she worked and visited during the incubation period have been put under compulsory testing notice.

The CHP said it has so far arranged for 340 close contacts in the Moon Palace case, as well as their household members, to be moved to a quarantine centre. These include 22 staff members of the restaurant and about 170 customers who were there from 1pm to 3pm on Dec 27.

Other people who were at the restaurant during the indicated date and times are asked to call the CHP’s hotlines at 2125 1111 or 2125 1122 as soon as possible.

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Twenty-four of today’s cases involved mutant strains while the test results of the remaining two are pending. The patients comprise seven males and 19 females, aged one to 61.

Among the imported cases is a local aircrew member who arrived from the US on Dec 27, and went home to North Point after testing negative on her arrival test. She developed symptoms on Dec 29 after moving in with a friend at Caribbean Coast in Tung Chung. She consulted a private doctor on Dec 30 and tested positive.

An overnight lockdown of the two places where she resided prior to testing positive did not yield any new case.

Another notable imported cases involves a 27-year-old female patient who left for Finland on Dec 24 and returned to HK on Dec 31 from Finland via the Netherlands and Thailand aboard KL819. Her specimen collected at the airport carried the N501Y and T478K strains linked to Omicron.

Her residential building, Block K of Kornhill in Quarry Bay, and places she visited during the incubation period, will be included in a CTN.

A total of 148 Covid-19 cases have been reported in the past 14 days, or from Dec 19 to Jan 1, 2022.  (Dec 19 to Jan 1, 2022). Four of them are import-related cases, while the rest are imported.

The CHP reminded people covered by CTNs issued in relation to the following premises to undergo compulsory testing by Jan. 3: 

·       36B Tai Mei Tuk Village (except G/F), Tai Po

·       Tower 3, The Visionary, 1 Ying Hong Street, Tung Chung

·       Tower 7, Park Avenue, 18 Hoi Ting Road, Tai Kok Tsui

·       One South Lane, No.1 South Lane, Shek Tong Tsui

·       Twilight Court, Peninsula Village, 2 Caperidge Drive, Discovery Bay, Lantau Island

·       Tower 1, The SeaCrest, 1 Hang Kwai Street, Tuen Mun

·       Tower 6, The Belcher's, 89 Pok Fu Lam Road, Pok Fu Lam

·       Block 1, Kwun Lung Lau, 20 Lung Wah Street, Kennedy Town

·       Wing Chak House, Chak On Estate, Chak On Road, Shek Kip Mei

·       135 Tuen Tsz Wai, Tuen Mun

·       Block A, Hoi Tao Building, 11 Belcher's Street, Kennedy Town

·       Grandeur Terrace Block 2, 88 Tin Shui Road, Tin Shui Wai

·       Tower 6, Albany Cove, Caribbean Coast Phase II, 1 Kin Tung Road, Tung Chung (excluding the Greenfield English (International) Kindergarten (Tung Chung) located on the ground floor of Tower 6, Albany Cove, Caribbean Coast Phase II and Tower 7, Albany Cove, Caribbean Coast)

·       Nam Tin Building, 275 King's Road, North Point (excluding the restaurant located on L1 floor and L2 floor of Nam Tin Building)

·       Block 6, Villa Athena, 600 Sai Sha Road, Ma On Shan

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