Coronavirus | HK reports four new imported cases

The Centre for Health Protection today (Sept. 11) said it is investigating four additional imported COVID-19 cases involving patients who arrived from Canada, Japan, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates.

One of them, a 52-year-old man, lives at Hong Kin House, Tsz Hong Estate in Tsz Wan Shan and received two doses of the Sinovac vaccine in May and June in Hong Kong.

He tested negative in Hong Kong on August 20 and travelled to the US on August 22. He returned on September 10 by flight JL735, and his specimen collected upon arrival tested positive for COVID-19 and carried the L452R mutant strain. He has been asymptomatic.

Epidemiological investigation and contact tracing are ongoing. As a precaution, the building where the patient resided and the places he had visited during the incubation period had been included in a compulsory testing notice. Specified people who had been present at the relevant venues at specified periods must undergo compulsory testing by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the centre was notified of confirmed cases in the UK and Japan involving 17 patients.

One of them, a woman aged 54 whose case was confirmed in the UK, lives at 112A, Ma Yau Tong Village in Tseung Kwan O and received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine in July and August in Hong Kong.

She tested negative in Hong Kong on September 2 and travelled to the UK on September 3 via flight AY1337. Her specimen collected on September 5 in the UK tested positive for COVID-19 and she remains asymptomatic.

The other patients are 16 sea crew members working on the cargo vessel Ever Calm, which arrived at Hong Kong on September 1 and had cargo operation at Kwai Tsing Container Terminals No.4 from September 2 to 3. The seamen tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Osaka on September 9.

The buildings where the woman resided in Hong Kong during the incubation period had been put into a compulsory testing notice, and the cargo vessel will also be included.

A total of 49 cases were reported in Hong Kong in the past 14 days, all of which are imported.