Health authorities investigate preliminary positive case in the community

The Centre for Health Protection is investigating a preliminary positive case with mutant strain variant it detected in the community on Friday night, involving a 38-year-old foreign domestic helper arriving from the US.

The case is said to be involving the L452R mutant strain. The helper, who lives in a house on Stanley Village Road, received two doses of BioNTech vaccine on April 7 and 28 in Hong Kong, and headed to the US on June 18. She returned to the city on August 1 on flight CX883.

She tested both negative when she was leaving the US on July 29 and when she arrived at the airport. She didn't develop any symptom and she underwent a seven-day quarantine. She tested preliminary positive for the virus on Thursday, which was the 12th day upon her arrival.

The center then included seven places visited by the helper in the compulsory testing notice, including Bafang Dumpling on Wan Chai Road, 3hreesixty in Stanley Plaza, Hong Kong Tennis Centre in Happy Valley, the 3/F of the Immigration Tower in Wan Chai, as well as route 260 buses traveling between Stanley Village and Central, and route 40 green minibuses traveling between Stanley Village and Causeway Bay.

Persons who have been to these places must undergo compulsory testing by tomorrow. They can be exempted from taking the test again if they had undergone the test between August 11 and 13, with negative results.