Cargo handler’s source of infection unknown: CHP

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Friday that it is still trying to find out how a 48-year-old man, who works as a cargo handler at the airport, has contracted Covid-19.

The fully-vaccinated man’s sample came back positive for the L452R mutant strain on Wednesday, and tests showed he had a high viral load.

His close contacts, as well as around 100 of his colleagues who shared the same common room with him at the airport, have been sent to quarantine. None of them have tested positive for the virus so far.

An overnight lockdown of the patient’s residential block in Sha Tin found no positive cases.

Nevertheless, the CHP’s Chuang Shuk-kwan said it was still too early to tell whether a large-scale community outbreak has been averted.

“At this point in time we do not have any linked cases to this case… hopefully we have identified a very early onset case that has not been spread to the community,” she said.

“But we still do not know yet because he did work at the airport with a lot of colleagues, and also they stayed at the same rest room and his colleagues also worked in the same environment so we never know whether there’re other cases linked to this case.”

Apart from this local case, officials also reported one imported Covid infection involving a man who flew in from the UK.

There were also around six preliminary positive cases on Friday.