Yau Tsim Mong Covid outbreak ‘could last for weeks’

Health officials said on Wednesday it could take up to two weeks before the coronavirus situation in Yau Tsim Mong district stabilises, as the number of cases there continued to climb.

Authorities reported 77 new Covid cases, 41 of them from Yau Tsim Mong.

Tens of thousands of residents living in Yau Ma Tei and Jordan have been ordered to get tested for Covid amid an outbreak there, and Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection says she expects the infection figures there to remain high for some time.

“Because of the quite long incubation period of Covid-19, any control measures… you will see the results in maybe one or two weeks’ time if the intervention is useful. So it may take some time for the cases to come down if the intervention measures are effective,” Chuang said.

Residents living in eight more buildings – in Yau Ma Tei, Jordan, Sham Shui Po, Ngau Tau Kok and Kornhill – will be ordered to get tested after cases were reported from their blocks.

Meanwhile, a nurse who works at in isolation ward at North District Hospital has tested preliminary positive for the virus.

The Hospital Authority said she was wearing full protective gear while taking care of coronavirus patients.

Five nurses who had a gathering and a meal with her are to be put under quarantine.

Of Wednesday’s new cases, 37 could not be traced.

And more than 60 people have tested preliminary positive for the virus.