By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung leads inspection of lockdown area |
Hong Kong authorities have let coronavirus-free residents go
in and out of the lockdown area in
Home Affairs Secretary Caspar Tsui said in a press briefing the lockdown declaration would be revoked this midnight to enable residents who tested negative would be able to resume their normal activities.
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“After 6pm today, that is now, we allow all those who have taken the test, as long as the results are negative, and for those who are wearing wristbands, these…residents can now go in and out of the restricted area via designated exits to minimize the impact,” he said.
Tsui said the government will seriously follow up and enhance the anti-epidemic campaign and officers will continue to work in the restricted area.
He said those who were in the restricted area for two hours
in the past 14 days, even though they were outside the zone when the lockdown
was imposed at 4am on Saturday, must go for a test as soon as possible as a
responsible individual.
He warned those who violate the restriction and mandatory testing declaration that they face a fine of $25,000 and six months in jail.
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The government imposed the 48-hour lockdown in an area with
about 55 residential buildings in
Secretary for Food and Health, Prof Sofia Chan, said that as of 3pm today, more than 7,000 residents had taken the compulsory test in 51 mobile testing stations. She said more than 80 persons were tested in door-to-door sorties in the restricted area.
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Chan said the tests in the restricted area accounted for 13 positive cases today, or 0.17% of the positive rate. She said four cases came from the same family and two came from another family. Seven other cases came from other households.
Preliminary positive patients were sent to public hospitals and contact tracing was under way, Chan said.
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Answering a reporter’s query, Chan said the lockdown showed that the government’s strategy of compulsory testing and testing within a small area with the restriction of movement was very effective in identifying, detecting and isolating the cases.
Chan did not rule imposing another lockdown where it is need in future, saying this measure, as well as the issuance of compulsory testing notice, are effective measures.
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| Tunghayan ang isa na namang kwentong Dream Love |
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said
in an earlier media briefing the 76 new patients included 23 from Yau Tsim Mong,
11 of whom were from the Jordan restricted zone.
The new cases brought Hong Kong’s total Covid-19 tally to 10,085, health officials said.
Four of these were imported cases, and they were all Indonesian female helpers, aged 23 to 34, one of whom arrived via Singapore on Jan 22. Three others flew in on Jan 10 and tested positive on their 12th day in quarantine.
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Of the new cases, 27 had unknown origin and 45 were linked to other cases, Chuang said.
Dr Linda Yu of the Hospital Authority said as of 9am today, public hospitals received 77 positive cases in the past 24 hours, and discharged a total of 9 034 patients with confirmed or probable infection.
A total of 775 confirmed patients are still in 24 public
hospitals and at the AsiaWorld community treatment facility. Among them, 35 are
in critical condition, 35 in serious condition and the remaining 705 in stable
condition.
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Yu also announced the death of a 72-year-old male patient with
chronic illness who was admitted to
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| Police were highly visible in the lockdown area |
Earlier today, Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung inspected the restricted area in Jordan.
Briefing reporters afterwards, Cheung replied to a query that he was confident of lifting the restrictions by 6am tomorrow, based on the on testing of residents in the area.
“We have confidence that we should be able to do it (ending the lockdown) because we have already done screening for 7,000 people yesterday in terms of testing,” Cheung said.
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