Unknown-source infections creep into other districts

The highly contagious Omicron variant has spread to multiple districts across Hong Kong, with six unknown-source infections recorded yesterday.

And Delta variant-hit Wong Tai Sin faced a new cluster based on a hair salon, while other districts affected by Covid include Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long, Fan Ling, Shau Kei Wan and Tai Po.

The six mystery cases were among 124 confirmed yesterday - a third day of triple-digit numbers - taking the city's overall tally to 13,519 infections, with 213 deaths.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection's communicable disease unit, said a part-time worker and a client at the New Image hair salon at Fung Wong New Village in Wong Tai Sin tested positive.

The infections were detected a day after a 49-year-old hairdresser was infected and listed as a case with an unknown source on Monday.

Chuang said all three cases involved the Delta variant.

"Health officials believe the cases are related, but we have not yet found the source of infection," Chuang said, appealing to people who visited the salon to get tested as soon as possible.

A vertical transmission route was also found at Tsuen Wan Garden's Glory Court as one more case was detected there.

The person affected lives in unit 5 on the upper floor of the building - the same as an earlier untraceable Omicron patient, Chuang said, as authorities moved to start checks.

All residents of flats numbered 5 from the fourth to 18th floors as well as four units from the 16th to 18th floors were being taken into quarantine.

Another unknown-source case involves an accountant who traveled to Hong Kong from Shanghai through the Return2hk scheme on January 16.

Chuang said an infected person lives in Grand Yoho Tower 2 in Yuen Long and works at One Pacific Centre in Kwun Tong.

A male accountant tested negative on January 14 and 16 but developed a fever on Sunday, with Chuang saying it was believed the sufferer contracted the Omicron variant in Hong Kong.

Another untraceable case involves a 62-year-old driver at Gold Coast Yacht and Country Club in Tuen Mun who lives in Fuk On House at Ka Fuk Estate in Fan Ling.

Chuang said a cook working at the club was infected earlier and authorities were checking links.

A 75-year-old retired man living in Tat Sin House at Upper Wong Tai Sin Estate in Wong Tai Sin was infected by the Delta variant.

Other untraceable cases are a Prince of Wales Hospital nurse, 41, living in Oi Tung Estate in Shau Kei Wan, a 40-year-old man working in Hang Seng Bank in Ho Man Tin and living in St Martin Tower 1 in Pak Shek Kok, and a housewife, 29, living in On Kwai House at Kwai Fuk Court in Kwai Chung.

Chuang said sewage samples in Tai Po tested positive and residents should go for Covid tests. Mobile testing stations were being provided to help cope with demand.

And Wai Chun House in Sham Shui Po was locked down for compulsory testing from 8pm last night after a resident tested positive.

Eight residential buildings in To Kwa Wan's Hung Kwong Street - numbers 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33 and 35 -- were also locked down after a case there.

Infectious disease expert Joseph Tsang Kay-yan said the fifth wave of outbreaks has not reached its peak and he expects more districts to be hit, urging more effort for testing.

In Wong Tai Sin, for example, hundreds of residents queued for tests from 6am yesterday, worrying after a Delta cluster emerged in Tropicana Gardens.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said one sufferer there - a 26-year-old man in unit 5E - did not hand in a hamster to authorities or get tested despite developing Covid symptoms on January 15.

The case was only detected after sewage samples from the building tested positive.

"If he was willing to get tested or realized he was at high risk as he kept a hamster we could have stopped this Wong Tai Sin transmission chain," Lam said.

She also said overall testing capacity has improved with the number reaching 150,000 in recent days.

"We are studying if we can further enhance our testing ability and may seek assistance from the mainland," she said.

Guangdong province, in fact, has already offered to assist.

Authorities also announced free Covid tests for cleaning workers, security guards and staff at care homes would run to February 6.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com