Kowloon Bay block declared Covid-infected

Richland Gardens in Kowloon Bay has been declared a Covid-19 infected area with an apparently problematic sewage system like the notorious Amoy Gardens in the 2003 SARS outbreak.

That led to residents in three blocks being ordered to take mandatory tests, and dozens were sent into quarantine.

And all residents of D flats of the home ownership estate's 34-story Block 6 went into quarantine.

That was after the block saw seven confirmed cases in four units on the second, third, sixth and 34th floors in addition to one more preliminary positive from a fifth D unit picked up by mandatory testing yesterday.

Remaining residents must be tested twice, with the first yesterday and the second on December 20.

Government adviser Yuen Kwok-yung warned the drainage system of the 22-block Richland bears similarities to the nearby private housing of Amoy Gardens, the center of the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003 - also caused by a novel coronavirus.

A mobile specimen collection station was set up on a badminton court at Richland yesterday to help hundreds of Block 6 residents get tested.

They underwent a rapid test with results ready 30 minutes after an initial screening, which was followed by a regular polymerase chain reaction test.

The mobile station will operate until Monday. Unit D residents were seen dragging luggage as they left Block 6 yesterday afternoon, boarding government vans to be taken to quarantine centers.

But members of some households were reluctant to move, so authorities sent police negotiators to the building to move them along.

After inspecting the building yesterday, the University of Hong Kong's Yuen said: "We know that all the cases are in units D of Block 6, and as a result there is a good reason for us to suspect a structural problem related to the sewage system.

"All drains from bathrooms, toilets or kitchen go into the sewage pipe, and [in] some we may not be able to see a U-trap."

Experts from the Drainage Services and the Buildings departments were standing by to inspect pipe systems after D residents had moved out.

A U-trap is a pipe design that should ward off germs and viruses. But Yuen suspected there could have been a passage for virus-carrying air to pass between units vertically.

He reminded people to seek expert help if there is a bad odor in their bathrooms as it could indicate a problem in sewage pipes.

Then, until there is all-clear advice, people should wear masks in their bathrooms and add detergent or soap to the toilet every time before flushing.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease unit at the Centre for Health Protection, said residents of one unit E of Block 4 and of one unit D in Block 18 also infected. So hundreds of residents were required to take the mandatory test due to suspected problems in the pipes.

Chuang said general guidelines are to subject residents of a building to mandatory tests if a block has four unlinked units infected when households do not know one another or recall taking the same lift.

"But it's not a rigid framework," she added. "If we see a quick increase of cases in a building or when more than one flat in the same vertical alignment is affected we may also issue compulsory test notices."

Asked why she did not announce the mandatory test for Richland at a daily briefing on Wednesday afternoon she said authorities made a sudden call that night, and officers needed time to investigate if the four infected households in Block 6 knew one another.

Experts have repeatedly called for lockdowns at buildings with mandatory tests on residents while awaiting results, but Chuang said: "Currently our first priority is to test all of them to assess the situation.

"If we find horizontal distribution we may evacuate more residents. If there is environmental contamination it may not be safe to lock them in the building."

Although Block 6 is not sealed off, residents must record their movements and people they meet

Residents complained about the sudden call to action yesterday as they were told to get tested within the day - and that was a day after they were told to be tested by next Monday.

"This is so confusing," said a resident queuing at the mobile specimen collection station. "I first heard about mandatory tests by next week from the news last night, and when I woke the deadline had become by the end of today.

"What if people are still working? How are they supposed to get tested at such short notice?"

Residents at Kam Wai House in Ma On Shan were also unhappy at being asked to undergo mandatory tests on Wednesday after five residents in four units were confirmed with Covid-19.

Sha Tin district councilor Hui Lap-san said the announcement came abruptly and without clear instructions.

Some panicked residents mistook the mandatory test as a lockdown and stocked up on food sufficient for a month as they feared they would be prevented from leaving home.