Mutant strain quarantine rules set

May 7, 2021

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

The Centre for Health Protection today announced that residents within the same building but not in the same unit with local confirmed COVID-19 cases with the mutant strain need not be classified as close contacts and placed under quarantine for 21 days.

 

Instead, these residents would be required to have more frequent testing due to the higher transmissibility of the N501Y strain and an increased chance of transmission by sharing common facilities in the same building.

 

People currently placed under quarantine because they live in the same building as N501Y cases will be tested again in a quarantine centre.

 

They will be released from the quarantine centre if they have obtained a negative test result but will still be subject to compulsory testing on days three, seven, 12 and 19 counting from the day on which the confirmed case left the building.

 

For N501Y cases with an unknown source of infection, a restriction-testing declaration would be made for the building on the day a preliminary positive or confirmation result is returned.

 

All residents in the building would be subject to compulsory testing on days three, seven, 12 and 19 counting from the day on which the confirmed case left the building.

 

Household contacts and people living in the same subdivided unit as the confirmed case will be subject to 21 days quarantine.

 

In the event that further cases are detected in the same building, all residents of the building will be classified as close contacts and placed under quarantine for 21 days.

 

At a press briefing this afternoon, the centre's Controller Dr Ronald Lam noted that it is necessary to take a very prudent approach with respect to the importation of the mutant virus strains in Hong Kong.

 

“We also noted from our investigation that most of the cases at that time were of unknown sources. Variant viruses are known to increase transmissibility, increase severity of infection, as well as prolong incubation period.

 

“So with respect to the characteristics of such viruses and being unsure about where they contracted the diseases, we have to adopt the most prudent approach and most stringent measures."

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