Mall staff to be tested for COVID-19

February 27, 2021

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

 

All staff working in K11 MUSEA have to undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing after the Centre for Health Protection identified 15 more cases related to a restaurant at the shopping mall.

 

The centre’s Communicable Disease Branch Head Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan made the statement at a press briefing this afternoon.

 

Dr Chuang explained to reporters that the centre is investigating 33 additional COVID-19 cases, of which 31 are locally transmitted.

 

Among the local cases, 15 are linked to Mr Ming’s Chinese Dining restaurant in K11 MUSEA, including nine patrons and four staff, while two are their close contacts. Of the 20 preliminary positive cases, seven are also related to the restaurant cluster.

  

Additionally, a person working in Cartier, located in the same mall as the restaurant, has tested preliminary positive for the virus.

 

Dr Chuang said: “We’re not sure about the exact risk of those visitors to K11 MUSEA. We have observed a possible superspreading event in that restaurant and also there are quite a number of staff and also other patrons getting infected.

 

“It is possible infections did not only occur in the restaurant because the staff may have been infectious when they entered or were in the mall etc. So we are not sure.

 

“As a precaution, we think that it is prudent to issue a compulsory testing notice for all the staff in that place because they stayed in the same place for quite a period of time.”

 

Dr Chuang called on other visitors to undergo virus testing even though the compulsory testing notice does not apply to them.

 

“For other visitors, it really depends on whether those superspreading events occurred outside the restaurant and whether there are other silent transmissions. As a precaution, we will ask the public that if they visited K11 MUSEA on February 19 or after, please observe their health condition and get tested as soon as possible.”

 

Citizens who had been to the relevant venues in K11 MUSEA and scanned the LeaveHomeSafe QR code from February 19 to 26 will receive exposure notifications. They can make appointments online to receive free virus testing at community testing centres.

 

Additionally, 28 buildings and workplaces are now covered by compulsory testing notices.

 

People who had been at these premises for more than two hours from February 14 to 27 must undergo testing by March 1.

 

Given that staff of St. Hilary's Kindergarten (Hung Hom) had tested positive for the virus, apart from the staff, students attending that school also have to undergo testing.

 

The Government will set up more mobile specimen collection stations on February 28 and the service period of some mobile stations will be extended.

 

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

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