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| The 2 Filipinas should have presented negative Covid-19 test results before being allowed to fly to HK |
Four foreign domestic workers, two Filipinas and two
Indonesians, were among the 69 new Covid-19 cases reported in Hong
Kong today, Aug 13, which brought the city’s total tally to 4,313.
The Filipina helpers flew in from Manila
The third imported case is an Ethiopian pilot who came from Brazil and South
Africa , while the fourth is a returnee from India
The two Indonesian maids are among 65 local cases. Both
tested positive at a quarantine centre where they were taken after a fellow
Indonesian who stayed with them in a dormitory in Tsuen Wan was found infected
earlier.
The boarding house was previously described as run by the
David Cheung Employment Agency on Heung
Wo Street
According to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health
Protection, also among the new cases was a patient linked to another boarding
house in Mong Kok where another infected Indonesian helper, Case No 4159, had
stayed.
Chuang said the new patient was a family member of the
person who was running the unit on the ninth floor of Cheung Hing
Building
Case No 4159 pointed out to the unit as the one where she
had stayed with about eight other maids, but the one in charge of the place has
reportedly denied renting it out, making it difficult to locate the other
tenants.
Chuang said the police are still looking for the landlord of
the unit and see whether there were records of the people who had stayed there
temporarily, so they could be tracked and tested.
She repeated an appeal to employers who recently hired
domestic helpers to get them tested to make sure they were not infected in
temporary shelters they had stayed in previously.
She also warned that more infections could be found from the
same building later, as a number of FDHs who were staying in another dormitory
on the seventh floor had been put under quarantine while waiting for the
results of their tests.
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| The two Indonesian patients today stayed in an agency-run dormitory in this Tsuen Wan building |
Including today’s cases, there has been a total of 11
Indonesian domestic workers who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past
eight days, after staying in dormitories while waiting for their new employment
visas to be released.
Of the 65 local cases, 32 are linked to previous infections,
27 of them involving family and friends who had gathered or had meals together.
The 33 others are of unknown source.
The local cases include one linked to the Kwai Chung
Container Terminal, where the doctors believe the infection spread in the
changing rooms, as most of the patients did not know each other.
There was also a nurse at United Christian
Hospital
Chuang said the 33 cases with unknown source include several
elderly patients and housewives, and people from all walks of life.
She said the voluntary mass testing for all Hong Kong residents that Chief Executive Carrie Lam
announced last week could help identify asymptomatic or cryptic patients who
may be spreading the virus unknowingly.
Dr Linda Yu, chief manager of the Hospital Authority
announced that the death toll has reached 65, after two more elderly patients
passed away in the past 24 hours.
An 88-year-old woman passed away at 1:13 pm today in Tuen Mun Hospital , while a 74-year-old male patient died at
2:35pm at United Christian Hospital
A total of 857 confirmed patients are being treated in 19
hospitals and the isolation facilities at Lei Yue Mun and AsiaWorld-Expo. Among
them, 32 are in critical condition, 50 are in serious condition, and 775 are in
stable condition.
Responding to a question from the press, Chuang advised the
public to be careful when handling frozen food after the coronavirus was found
in frozen chicken wings from Brazil
and frozen prawns from Ecuador
“Cook them thoroughly as high temperature will kill the
virus,” she said.
Meanwhile, the government has announced that the work from
home arrangement for most civil servants will be extended until Aug 23.
But those providing emergency and necessary public services
will continue reporting to their workplaces.
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