Another 69 infections found at Kwai Chung Estate

An Omicron outbreak at Kwai Chung Estate has expanded to more blocks, with the cluster now seeing over 210 confirmed or suspected infections.

Health authorities reported 69 new confirmed Covid patients from the virus-stricken estate on Monday, with 27 linked to Yat Kwai House and 33 to Ying Kwai House – both of which are under a five-day lockdown.

There are also nine new infections involving eight other blocks at the estate.

Cases are also emerging at places where infected Kwai Chung Estate residents worked or visited, with an outbreak at a construction site on Victory Avenue in Mong Kok. At least nine workers there have been infected so far.

At a press briefing, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection was asked if the lockdowns at Kwai Chung Estate should be extended.

“Whether to extend the lockdown period, I think it will depend on the trend of the cases in coming days,” she said.

“For every case we will trace their close contacts and put those places they visited under compulsory testing notice, to check and to early detect whether there is any spread. Of course we are worried for every case, there is a possibility of further spread, especially with the highly infectious Omicron.”

Health authorities are also calling on residents of Wong Tai Sin to get tested for Covid-19 after officials found both the Delta and Omicron variants in sewage samples there.

Three confirmed or preliminary positive cases have also been found at Block 1 of Tropicana Gardens, with all of the patients living in E units and one thought to have recently bought a hamster. Hamsters were implicated in an earlier outbreak.

“Because of the sewage problem… and now we found some cases with suspected Delta, so we appeal to the residents or those who work in the Wong Tai Sin district to come to have voluntary testing as soon as possible,” Chuang said.

Separately, authorities also suspect there has been vertical transmission in Fu Keung House at Tai Wo Hau Estate and experts will pay a visit for investigations.

In total, Hong Kong recorded 109 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, 98 of them local infections.

Five of the new infections are untraceable, including that of a student from King George V School in Ho Man Tin who lives in Tung Chung, and that of a 53-year-old woman who lives in Kwai Fong Estate and recently visited Kwai Fong Plaza and Metroplaza.

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Last updated: 2021-01-24 HKT 18:15