HK reports 11 COVID-19 cases

October 22, 2020

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

 

The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating 11 additional COVID-19 cases, taking the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong to 5,280.

 

Among the new cases, 10 are imported and the other is locally transmitted with an unknown source of infection.

 

At a press briefing this afternoon, the centre’s Communicable Disease Branch Head Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said the local case involves a 38-year-old woman who lives with her family in Caribbean Coast, Tung Chung.

 

She noted the patient had travelled to Italy and Switzerland in September.

 

“The exact source of infection of case number 5281 is still being investigated because she had a travel history, almost more than one month ago, before she had the onset of symptoms on October 9."

Dr Chuang added that patients may sometimes have a long incubation period, but she could not rule out the possibility that the woman had caught the virus in Hong Kong. 

 

"We have locally acquired cases every now and then in Hong Kong, so we cannot exclude the possibility that she acquired the disease locally. Of course we will do genetic sequencing to see whether we can get any clue from that.” 

 

Dr Chuang also revealed that the patient’s son, as one of her close contacts, had been taken to hospital for a virus test as he had developed a mild cough since October 16.

 

The child attended classes at Po Leung Kuk Horizon East Primary School in Tuen Mun yesterday.

 

“That is why as a precautionary measure, pending the laboratory test result of the child, we have advised the school to suspend classes for disinfection. If the laboratory test result is negative, then the school may resume classes. If it is a positive result, we may have to advise the school to close for 14 days and test the rest of the children and teachers.”

 

The imported cases are from Nepal and Pakistan.

 

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

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