Prison looms for Cathay virus pair

Two former Cathay Pacific flight attendants have been convicted of violating anti-epidemic rules by going out unnecessarily during home quarantine, which might have brought the Omicron variant to the city last December.

Wong Yoon-loong, 46, and Nilsson Lau Lok-wang, 45, had earlier pleaded not guilty to three counts of failing to observe the conditions specified by a health officer as persons subject to medical surveillance.

The two were remanded in custody until sentencing on December 1.

Eastern District Court magistrate Edward Wong Ching-yu said aircrew must undergo home quarantine until they test negative via PCR tests on the third day of arrival - unless they need to go out for "necessary activities."

Magistrate Wong slammed the two for "abusing the rights and privileges given to them by the government" and possibly spreading the variant to other people, adding that they had committed a serious offense and warned of issuing a sentence for immediate imprisonment.

After arriving in Hong Kong on December 24, Wong left his home in Sai Wan and visited Lau's Tuen Mun residence the following day.

Lau accompanied Wong to a bus stop that afternoon before collecting a parcel at the Tuen Mun Town Plaza.

Lau went shopping at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong two days later to buy a mobile phone for his father and dined at Moon Palace restaurant with his family.

Magistrate Wong said the two defendants' excuses to go out were unreasonable and unnecessary. Wong claimed he was depressed over the airline's layoffs and that it was necessary to visit Lau for solace.

But magistrate Wong dismissed the claim, saying if Wong suffered from severe depression he would have sought medical treatment and that there was no urgency because it had been almost two years since the airline's layoffs.

Magistrate Wong said it was unnecessary for Lau to walk Wong to the bus stop as the latter is a 46-year-old adult and could find his way home.

He added that Lau did not have to leave his home to buy a phone at Festival Walk and that he could have ordered takeout instead of dining at Moon Palace.

Department of Health senior medical officer Benjamin Fung Wing-fai testified that the two defendants carried the same Covid variant genetic sequence and could have transmitted it to others.

As Lau showed symptoms earlier than the other nine patients in the Moon Palace cluster, it was very likely that he caused the outbreak, Fung said.

Fung agreed that it could not be proved beyond doubt that Lau passed the virus at Moon Palace, but it was a very likely possibility, as all patients were found to be carrying the same variant.

Fung admitted that the Omicron variant had already been recorded in the city before Christmas, but all previous cases were imported, while the Moon Palace cluster was the first local outbreak.

In mitigation, the defense said the two wished to apologize to people they infected. They did not intend to break the law and hoped they could be released on bail. But it was rejected by magistrate Wong, who said the two could be sentenced for up to six months in jail and fined HK$5,000.

The defense also criticized Cathay for unclear instructions on which activities were allowed or forbidden. But the prosecution said it was the ex-flight attendants' own responsibility to familiarize themselves with the health measures.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com