​The Government tonight made a restriction-testing declaration for Tower 1, 2 and 3, Hampton Place in Tai Kok Tsui due to a preliminary positive imported COVID-19 case involving the L452R mutant strain.

The Centre for Health Protection said the 53-year-old male patient is a cargo flight crew member who lives at Tower 1 of Hampton Place. He received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine in March and April and remains asymptomatic.

The patient tested negative for COVID-19 on October 31 and travelled to Germany on November 3. He returned to Hong Kong on November 7 by flight CX3166. His specimen collected upon arrival at the airport also tested negative.

He underwent compulsory testing in accordance with relevant requirements for exempted people. His sample collected yesterday at a community testing centre tested preliminary positive for the virus and carried the L452R mutant strain, with a Ct value of about 24 to 26.

As the presence of mutant strain has a higher transmissibility and risk of infection and all three towers of Hampton Place share the same entrance/exit for residents, the Government decided to make a restriction-testing declaration for all these towers.

The declaration took effect from 7.30pm and aims to be finished by about 8am tomorrow. People in the restricted area are required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing before 1am tomorrow.

Those who have undergone testing from November 11 to 13 and can provide the SMS notification or related certification containing the test results do not need to get tested again.

According to today's compulsory testing notice, people who had been at these premises for more than two hours from October 22 to November 13 must undergo compulsory testing by November 15 even if they were not in the restricted area when the declaration took effect. Vaccinated people are also subject to the requirement.

Moreover, the places where the patient had visited in Hong Kong during the incubation period have been included in a compulsory testing notice.