Two public hospitals recorded clusters involving medics and patients as a 94-year-old unvaccinated woman passed away yesterday.
The daily caseload returned to triple-digits at 986, with 800 more preliminary cases pending confirmation.
After inspecting Caritas Medical Centre in Cheung Sha Wan, government expert Yuen Kwok-yung said a nursing tutor is suspected to have spread the Omicron variant to five unvaccinated elderly patients in medical ward 12A after teaching other nurses for five hours in the ward on Monday.
Yuen said the tutor's husband received a compulsory test notice on Monday and the couple's test results later returned positive.
The tutor then had a sore throat on Tuesday.
He said the tutor could have spread the virus to patients despite the good ventilation in the ward as she was talking loudly for five hours.
All five patients were unvaccinated elderly with chronic diseases.
Yuen said two of them have been given anti-Covid drug Remdesivir and that another patient has a low viral count and is under medical surveillance.
The remaining two have terminal cancer so it is meaningless to prescribe medication for them, he added.
Transmission was also suspected to have been found at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan after a patient at the hospital's psychogeriatric department tested positive on Wednesday and a member of the department tested preliminary positive yesterday.
Chief manager of the Hospital Authority Larry Lee Lap-yi said health officials are investigating whether the two cases are linked.
Lee said a 94-year-old unvaccinated woman passed away yesterday afternoon, taking the Covid death toll to 216.
The woman with chronic illness was sent to hospital on Tuesday due to breathing difficulties and heart failure and tested positive for Omicron at the hospital.
Lee said the woman was in a stable condition on Tuesday, but her condition deteriorated and she passed away at 1.33pm.
He also said 1,895 Covid patients are being treated at hospitals, including three in critical condition and six in serious condition.
Lee added that 23 Hospital Authority staff were infected yesterday, including a doctor, 10 nurses, two allied health professionals and 10 assistant staff.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, Centre for Health Protection's head of the communicable disease unit, said of yesterday's 986 cases, just one was imported.
Most local cases were carrying the Omicron variant.
Chuang said around 20 elderly care homes have seen clusters in the fifth wave of outbreak. Health authorities believe the clusters were triggered after workers contracted the virus in the community and passed it to elderly residents.
The Wan Luen Home for Elderly in Sham Shui Po, which saw a 73-year-old infected resident die on Tuesday, saw three more infections. All its elderly residents will be evacuated to Penny's Bay quarantine center.
Chuang said there was an outbreak at Discovery Bay Plaza after four cleaners, two customer service staff and two sales workers working in the mall tested positive.
The Hung Lok House at Hung Fuk Estate in Yuen Long was locked down last night as the government said sewage in the building tested positive.
The government, meanwhile, extended the work from home arrangement for civil servants to next Friday.
wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com
