Surge in imported cases sparks alarm

Hongkongers living abroad should not return if they have coronavirus symptoms to avoid spreading the disease, the Centre for Health Protection said.

This came as health chiefs yesterday reported that seven out of eight new cases were imported, taking the total to 166.

The center's head of communicable disease branch, Chuang Shuk-kwan, said sick Hongkongers living overseas should attend area clinics immediately and stay where they are.

However, many Hongkongers have already returned over the past few days on additional flights that airlines had arranged to London as the UK sees an uptick in cases.

The Hospital Authority said 21 Hongkongers arriving on Monday night reported being sick and were ferried to nine hospitals in more than 10 ambulances.

Three of them - a 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old female studying in London, and a 24-year-old man working in Copenhagen - have tested positive.

A 69-year-old man who went to London, Spain and Paris between March 3 and Thursday and returned on CX260 early Friday also has the virus.

Fearing he had contracted the virus, the man stayed in his office at Harvest Moon House on Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei. He went to Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Monday after suffering muscle pains and diarrhea the night before.

The man's wife did not show any symptoms and will be sent to a quarantine center.

The fifth case is an 18-year-old female student in Switzerland who developed a sore throat and a cough on March 9 and returned on Malaysia Airlines MH78 from Kuala Lumpur late on Sunday.

On Monday she went to a clinic in Stanley and was referred to the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.

The sixth is a 37-year-old Cathay Pacific flight attendant who on March 7 served in the business class section on flight CX315 from Hong Kong to Madrid and on CX320 from Madrid to Hong Kong on March 10.

She visited a private doctor near her home in Tuen Mun Town Plaza on Thursday after developing a fever and a sore throat. She was referred to a hospital.

The seventh is a 30-year-old woman who went overseas between February 27 and March 5 but authorities are still trying to get her exact travel itinerary.

On March 5, she took BA325 from Paris to London and CX254 from London to Hong Kong, both in business class.

The last case is a 36-year-old man with no recent travel history, but Chuang believed he contracted the virus from a friend who had been to Switzerland from February 29 to March 8.

Meanwhile, top cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze was on the same Switzerland to Hong Kong flight CX382 as a 13-year-old who was confirmed with the virus in Shenzhen.

The Hong Kong Sports Institute said Lee sat far away from the student but will be tested.

That came as supermarket City'Super's branch at IFC mall in Central has been closed until tomorrow for disinfection after a customer who shopped at the store on Sunday was confirmed to be infected.