By The SUN
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| Residents line up for Covid tests in Yau Tong, where a family of 4 were infected |
Hong Kong recorded seven new coronavirus infections, four local and three linked to a case reported yesterday, bringing the city’s total tally to 11,532.
The three local cases are the family members of a sales staff who tested positive yesterday, and whose source is unknown.
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They include his 12-day old baby boy, 7-year-old daughter and 31-year-old wife who were all found infected while under quarantine. They all live together in Wah Tong House at Yau Tong estate.
The four imported cases involve three residents who just flew in from India, including one who had onset of symptoms on Mar 24, and one returnee from Pakistan who had symptoms on arrival.
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The new figures were reported amid calls from various
health experts to halt flights from the Philippines, India and Pakistan, the
three high-risk countries said to have the most number of travelers coming in
with the mutated form of the coronavirus.
But infectious disease expert, Joseph Tsang, today said
he didn’t see a need for Hong Kong to ban flights from the three countries just
yet, saying there’s a need to first assess the impact of such a move on the
community, including families waiting for foreign domestic helpers.
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Tsang, who is with the Medical Association, said the
mutated strains of the coronavirus can now be found around the globe.
“When the mutated virus strains are everywhere in the
world, it’s hard to say what places are high risk or low risk,” Tsang said in
an interview with RTHK.
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| Tsang says the mutated virus is all over the world, not just in 'high-risk' places (RTHK) |
He said that to safeguard against the possible spread of the mutated virus in the community, the government should rethink its policy of relaxing quarantine requirements for incoming travelers, even if they are from countries considered as “low risk.”
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Local officials recently said the city’s strict 21-day
quarantine could soon be cut to just 14 days for travelers from “low-risk”
places such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, though they will have to
self-monitor their health for seven more days.
However, microbiologist Prof. Ho Pak-leung reiterated
his earlier call for a ban on the high-risk places, saying in particular that
the three targeted countries have contributed to many recent imported
infections in Hong Kong.
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Speaking during an interview with Commercial Radio, Ho, who is with the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, warned the coronavirus variant from these countries could lead to another mass outbreak in the city.
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Of the 127 new infections recorded in the past two weeks,
98 were imported cases. Of the 29 local cases, nine had no known sources.
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