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| Residents of Luk Chuen House were evacuated Thursday night and taken to quarantine centers (RTHK photo) |
Three new cases of coronavirus infections were reported
today, Jun 5, all involving residents recently arrived from overseas, bringing Hong Kong ’s total tally to 1,102.
The first two cases are a 73-year-old woman and her
eight-year-old granddaughter who returned from India
They’re the first returnees from India
The third patient is a
49-year-old woman who had flown in from London
Centre for Health Protection officials said they are also
investigating the case of a 68-year-old man who arrived from Canada
At today’s press briefing, health officials also announced
that 75 residents of flats 12 and 10 in Luk Chuen House in Lek Yuen estate were
evacuated overnight, and moved to a
quarantine facility.
The Shatin housing estate is where six of the patients in
the latest local cluster of cases live. Five live in flats numbered 12, and one
in a number 10 flat.
The index patient who lives in a number 12 flat, appears to
have infected her husband, two of her
colleagues in a Kerry warehouse in Kwai Chung, and the ambulanceman who took
her to hospital.
The CHP said it has collected 1,352 deep-throat saliva
samples from residents of the estate, and all came back negative except for the
ones that have already been reported.
Meanwhile, the South China Morning Post reported that a
leading infectious disease expert has said that kitchen exhaust fans could have
led to the spread of the virus.
Professor Yuen Kwok-hung said in an interview in the Post
that he believed the exhaust fans in the kitchen could have spread the virus
among residents of the three numbered 12 flats,
Yuen said the first reported case was on a lower floor and
three more recent ones lived in flats above, so it was not likely sewage pipes
could have caused the spread of the virus.
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“A patient who has a high viral load could blast out air
(with the virus) when cooking,” he is quoted as saying.
“If the flats above did not turn on their extraction fans,
and the wind was blowing towards those flats, people there could have got
infected.”
In a separate interview, respiratory expert David Hui said
Lek Yuen residents should not have been allowed to leave their homes as this
has increased the risk of community transmission.
Some scared tenants had been seen fleeing the estate despite
appeals from the government to stay put while more investigations are being
carried out.
