Three-day lockdown at Kwai Chung block after 16 people got infected

A three-day lock down has been announced at Yat Kwai House of Kwai Chung Estate after 16 people there tested positive of Covid-19 in a "superspreading" event.

Around 2,500 residents must test negative every day before they can leave the building, government advisor Yuen Kwok-yung announced after inspecting the building on Thursday night. 

Yuen described that there have been "widespread" infections at the building, covering 12 flats on 11 floors, facing different directions. Fifteen of the infected are residents, while the remaining one is a security guard. 

But officers did not identify any problem with the pipes and there will be no evacuation for now. 

The outbreak is suspected to be related to the quarantine hotel cluster, where a woman was suspected to be infected at a quarantine hotel. She went home after testing negative. 

A family member of the woman, who is now confirmed with Covid-19, had headed to Kwai Chung Estate to collect garbage dumped by residents. The person took the materials to a street stall on Nam Cheong Street for selling. 

The Centre for Health Protection's principal medical and health officer Albert Au Ka-wing said if there is a surge in cases in the coming few days, authorities will consider evacuating residents. 

Earlier on Thursday, officials announced two confirmed cases and three preliminary positive cases at the estate. 

The two confirmed cases include a 53-year-old man living on the third floor of the building. He works at the airport as a forklift operator.  

The other case is a one-year-old baby who visited his grandmother who lives on the seventh floor of the building. The baby lives at Hong Shun House of Cheung Hong Estate in Tsing Yi.  

As for the three preliminary positive Covid cases, they include a 44-year-old woman who works at a mask factory in Kwai Hing, a 79-year-old man who is related to a previously confirmed case, and a 48-year-old female security guard who works in Tai Wo Hau Estate.  

The first resident who got infected at the block lives on the eighth floor, and was confirmed with Covid-19 when he went to Shenzhen on January 18. 

Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection's communicable disease branch, said the flats face different directions. Officers will investigate if the infections have anything to do with sharing the same hall or using the same elevators.