Jovial Court, Discovery Bay under lockdown

Health authorities have locked down Jovial Court, Peninsula Village, Discovery Bay from 7.40pm on Sunday, after a 23-year-old male resident returning from the United States tested positive for a highly contagious mutant Covid-19 strain.

The man left Hong Kong for the United States last Sunday, one day after testing negative for Covid-19 on November 13.

He flew back to the SAR on Cathay Pacific CX521 on Saturday and his samples taken at the airport came back positive, the same day when he started developing symptoms.

He was found to carry the L452R mutant strain likely to be the Delta variant, with a moderate viral load.

He has completed both doses of the German-made BioNTech/Fosun vaccine by May.

Although he had likely contracted the coronavirus in the United States, he had stayed at his Discovery Bay home during the incubation period before he left Hong Kong.

As a prudent measure, authorities put his building at Jovial Court under lockdown from 7.40pm to test all residents, with a target to unseal the block at 6am on Monday.