Infections hit single-day record

A record 67 Covid-19 cases were confirmed yesterday, with all but four of them local infections.

And health officials warned the effects of the global pandemic in Hong Kong could worsen as more than half of the new cases are from unknown sources.

Among them, a 32-year-old woman was apparently infected within 20 minutes after she met a friend on the street. She was wearing a mask, but the friend took off his to smoke while they chatted.

Five public hospitals also saw patients who had stayed in non-isolation wards and staff diagnosed with Covid-19 as infection control measures came under scrutiny.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, who heads the Centre for Health Protection's communicable disease unit, warned: "We can't say the new daily high is a peak of this wave of outbreaks.

"If everybody stays at home and complies with anti-epidemic rules we may be able to drag or even break the transmission chain. But ... I don't think we have entered a downhill trend."

Of the 63 local cases listed yesterday, 28 were linked to people known to be carrying the virus and 35 from unknown sources.

The woman who contracted the virus during a chat with the smoker on the street was found to have been talking to a previously diagnosed 67-year-old man from Choi Hung's Pan Kei congee shop cluster.

On that exchange, which saw the man remove his mask, Chuang remarked: " It's best if you don't smoke."

A 31-year-old nurse at the private Adventist Hospital in Tsuen Wan diagnosed with the virus was a friend of an infected 35-year-old man who had played basketball with friends on July 6 and last Saturday.

The nurse, who works in the emergency room, could have contracted the virus from her friend, Chuang said, But now some colleagues at the hospital may need to be sent into quarantine.

Many of yesterday's patients were linked to virus patient clusters in Tsz Wan Shan, including family members of staffers from the Green River and the Windsor eateries in the Tsz Wan Shan Shopping Centre. A dozen virus cases have been tracked to each eatery.

The Kong Tai home for the elderly, also in Tsz Wan Shan, saw a 57-year-old male resident confirmed with Covid-19 while a 79-year-old man was listed as a preliminary positive case.

Family members of people caught in virus clusters in Leighton Hill, Ngau Chi Wan wet market, Sham Shui Po's Pei Ho Street market and Cafe de Coral in Choi Hung's Infinity Eight shopping center were also diagnosed with the virus yesterday.

The Hospital Authority's chief manager for quality and standards, Lau Ka-hin, said two Queen Elizabeth Hospital staffers have been infected in addition to three female patients, aged from 64 to 92, in the internal medicine ward.

They are a 45-year-old man working in the non-emergency ambulance control room - he did not appear to have had direct contact with patients - and a 56-year-old patients' assistant who did not go to work after cases surfaced on Sunday.

A 57-year-old woman at Buddhist Hospital in Lok Fu, a 71-year-old man in Tseung Kwan O Hospital and a 86-year-old man in Princess Margaret Hospital had stayed in non-isolation wards with other patients before testing positive for Covid-19.

Prince of Wales Hospital has also been hit by a contractor cleaner being infected.

And an emergency room doctor in Tuen Mun Hospital has been classified as a close contact after a family member tested positive for Covid-19.

Lau said people who shared a ward with confirmed virus patients in the three hospitals are being tested. But most of results have already come back negative.

Asked if hospitals will stop putting suspected cases into shared wards, Lau said: "It's impossible for us to put all suspected cases into isolation wards before they have been tested positive. We want to spare the first-tier beds to confirmed patients.

"We can only put them in shared wards that have greater distances between beds and make sure patients wear masks for infection control."

The number of infected government workers is also on the rise, with the latest being a back office staffer at the Tsuen King Circuit Wu Chung Swimming Pool in Tsuen Wan.

A Hospital Authority employee working at its Ho Man Tin headquarters has also been diagnosed with the virus.

The under secretary for food and health, Chui Tak-yi, sidestepped a question on whether civil servants will be allowed to work from home once more but said the government aims to maintain services for citizens under special arrangement that reduce group meetings while adopting flexible working hours.

Chui also said the new regulation to ban service at dine-in in restaurants after 6pm will be exempted in staff canteens in public and private institutions. That comes after feedback from citizens.

Taxi drivers can call the Transport Department's hotline at 1836168 from 9am to 9pm to book a free throat swab test for Covid-19.

Police meanwhile said that up to early evening yesterday they had received nine reports of passengers not wearing masks and issued six warnings.

And with government quarantine centers under pressure amid rapidly rising confirmed cases, returnees from high risk regions including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and South Africa are being referred to the Silka Hotel in Tsuen Wan for a 14-day centralized quarantine instead of them going to isolation camps.

The first batch of over 100 returnees from India started the quarantine at the hotel yesterday afternoon after flying in on Wednesday night and testing negative for Covid-19.