(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Hospital Authority today said the chance that a 70-year-old patient at Kwong Wah Hospital, who preliminarily tested positive for COVID-19 after two negative tests, got infected with the virus at the hospital is low.

At a press briefing this afternoon, the authority's Chief Manager (Quality & Standards) Dr Lau Ka-hin explained why the COVID-19 test was done repeatedly.

“The patient in Kwong Wah Hospital received tests within a few days. It was because the doctor was suspicious that there may be something wrong with this patient and the test may not be sensitive enough in the first phase of the disease, so the test was repeated until it was found that the patient was COVID-19 positive.”

Dr Lau explained that the patient was admitted to the surveillance ward on August 3 and transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) when his condition became unstable. He once stayed in the general ward but was moved back to the surveillance ward on August 8, when he received the virus test for the third time.

“According to the information from the infection control team and the hospital management, there are adequate air changes and spacing in the surveillance ward as well as in the ICU. And the patients in the ICU as well as in the surveillance ward wore masks with good compliance.

“Because of that, along with the timing of the positive result, the infection control team thinks that the chance of getting an infection in the hospital is generally low, but of course it cannot be excluded.

“The investigation is still in progress to see whether there are any confirmed cases in the ICU or in the surveillance ward.”