Officials tracing contacts of Covid variant patient

Health officials on Saturday confirmed three new local coronavirus infections, and one of them is a Filipino helper who was found to be carrying a highly infectious variant of Covid-19 after she completed her quarantine.

The helper, 38, was one of the preliminary positive cases reported on Friday. Officials are still tracing her source of infection.

She stayed at the Ramada Hotel in Sai Ying Pun after flying in on March 27, and moved into her employers’ home on Kennedy Road on April 17.

Authorities said a family who lived next door to her in the hotel were later found to be carriers of the N501Y variant — which the helper is now also confirmed with.

Those who stayed on the same floor with the helper in the hotel between April 4-7 will be quarantined for 21 more days. Others who were at the hotel between March 27 and April 23 will be subject to mandatory tests.

Health officials said all residents of the building in which she and her employers live had been ordered to get tested, and around 60 of them were quarantined.

The two other local cases are a 38-year-old man who lives in Hin Ming Court in Tseung Kwan O and a 3-year-old boy who lives in Hiu Kwai House, Kwai Chung Estate. Both infections are linked to previous cases.

There were no new imported cases.

Meanwhile, authorities are investigating the death of a 58-year-old woman who died on Friday – 10 days after she received her second Sinovac jab.

The Department of Health said records showed she suffered from hypertension, and a preliminary probe suggested she might have had a stroke. So far, there’s no evidence to suggest the vaccine was linked to her death, a government spokesman said.