Choi Hung block lockdown extended as cases surge

A lockdown on a Choi Hung residential block has been extended for another day after 18 more residents tested positive, with vertical and horizontal transmissions in the building blamed.

Cheung Bor House of Choi Wan (I) Estate was placed on lockdown on Wednesday night after a security guard and two residents were found to be infected. The lockdown was extended until today.

The Centre for Health Protection's principal medical and health officer Albert Au Ka-wing said 18 cases were detected during the lockdown on Wednesday night, taking the total for the building to 22. There were no details on the 22nd case.

The cases were found in four units in block 7 on different floors, three units in block 11 and four units on the 16th floor, Au said.

Government adviser Yuen Kwok-yung inspected the building yesterday and said both vertical and horizontal transmissions were to blame.

"It's obvious that vertical transmission happened in block 7 and block 11 of the building. Cases were found in block 7 units on the 7th, 16th, 21st and 22nd floors," Yuen said.

"A horizontal transmission also occurred on the 16th floor of the building as we detected cases in units 4, 5, 6 and 7 on the floor."

Yuen believes the virus was transmitted among units on the 16th floor when residents turned on their ventilation fans when cooking.

He said the outbreak was triggered by a security guard, who lives in the Delta-hit Tropicana Gardens Tower 1 in Wong Tai Sin and is the mother of a 26-year-old patient who kept a hamster. All security guards of the Choi Wan (I) Estate are being quarantined.

All residents living in blocks 7 and 11, as well as those living in units 2 to 7 on the 16th floor, will be evacuated to Penny's Bay quarantine center, Yuen said.

The whole building was subject to compulsory tests and all residents were put in home isolation.

Meanwhile, emergency services talked down a man preparing to jump from the top of Hiu Kwai House at Covid-hit Kwai Chung Estate.

The man, in his 20s, was seen sitting and walking on the unfenced ledge of the rooftop at around 10am.

Police negotiators eventually talked the man off the ledge and he was taken to Yan Chai Hospital. It is understood the man has a history of mental illness.