Diners' dilemma amid Kwun Tong, Sheung Wan clusters

A new restaurant cluster in Kwun Tong has seen nine diners hit by Covid-19 infections while a Sheung Wan restaurant saw seven more diners and four staff infected, taking the Sheung Wan cluster's total to 52.

This came as Hong Kong yesterday recorded 259 more Covid infections - 113 confirmed through PCR tests and 146 through rapid tests - and one death.

Centre for Health Protection head of communicable disease branch Chuang Shuk-kwan said the new cluster at Imperial Kitchen in Shing Yip Industrial Building in Kwun Tong emerged after health authorities found nine Covid patients had been there.

All nine visited the "private kitchen" after 5pm last Monday and compulsory testing notices has been issued to all diners at the restaurant in those hours.

Some tested positive after feeling unwell from Wednesday to Friday. Others were asymptomatic.

"Some people told us they only stayed there for 10 minutes to pick up almond biscuits and frozen meat," Chuang said, adding further investigations would be to find out if these visitors had actually eaten there.

"The Omicron variant is highly contagious and people may still be infected even when they are wearing the mask," she said.

Imperial Kitchen said on Facebook it was temporarily closed for disinfection.

Chuang said infected diners at Sheung Wan's Sky Cuisine restaurant hailed from over 20 families and were sitting at over 20 tables on May 7.

Authorities are still investigating how the virus spread, Chuang said, adding restaurant staff had a practice of dining together, increasing transmission risks.

One of the infected employees lives at Covid-hit Sai Wan Estate and the authorities are still conducting genetic sequencing to see if the outbreak at Sky Cuisine is related to cases at Sai Wan Estate.

As for the snooker cluster at Sun Mong Club in Hung Hom, Chuang said one more case was recorded yesterday. So far, the cluster has seen 11 visitors and two staff infected.

She said the daily caseload in Hong Kong has remained at around 200 to 300 recently, meaning there are still hundreds of silent transmission chains in the community and that the Department of Health may not be able to detect all of them.

She urged people to receive three Covid-19 jabs as soon as possible.

The SAR recorded 33 imported cases yesterday, including three patients who tested positive after the seven-day quarantine. Chuang said two of the cases involved positive finding for residual viruses while one who tested positive on day 13 never left the quarantine hotel due to family members' infection.

The city also reported one death involving an 82-year-old woman who had received two doses, taking the death toll for the fifth wave to 9,148.