HONG KONG – A 40-day-old baby became Hong Kong’s youngest Covid-19 patient yesterday, while health authorities confirmed more infections linked to a karaoke session last week.
The last two people who went to karaoke last week together with five others previously confirmed with the disease, also came down with the illness.
The announcement came shortly after the government extended a 14-day mandatory closure of leisure facilities to karaokes, night clubs and mahjong parlours earlier in the day.
A woman who works at a beauty parlour was also among the new cases. She fell ill after serving a customer, who was subsequently confirmed to be infected, at a beauty parlour in Tsim Sha Tsui called Reenex.
Thirty-four of the 51 new cases were classified as imported cases, including 13 students who recently returned to Hong Kong from overseas.
The rest are considered local cases, with no recent travel history.Officials say the infected baby came down with a fever after being held by a family friend, who was later found to have caught the virus.
The 40-day-old boy is being treated with antiviral medication at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and is in a stable condition.
Authorities are also trying to establish if a man had caught the virus from his neighbour at a residential building in Wan Chai. They say all other residents on the same floor will also be tested for the virus.
An immigration officer was also among the new cases, but officials said he has not recently performed any work where he came into direct contact with the public.
They said he had recently met a friend who recently came back to Hong Kong from the US, who had a runny nose. However, his friend hasn’t been tested for novel coronavirus yet.
Centre for Health Protection official Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said some other cases with unknown sources showed the virus is being transmitted in the community.
With a recent surge in COVID-19 exerting increasing pressure on the public healthcare system, the Hospital Authority is starting to divert some suspected cases elsewhere.
A chief manager with the authority, Dr Lau Ka-hin, said some people under home quarantine who came down with symptoms have been sent straight to a temporary testing centre at Asia World Expo in Lantau, and not to public hospitals, to relieve the pressure on isolation wards.
They must stay there until results are available.
Hong Kong has confirmed a total of 765 Covid-19 cases, with four fatalities.
– RTHK, MPD
