Hundreds quarantined over another mutant Covid case

Hundreds of people living in Allway Gardens in Tsuen Wan are being sent to quarantine after a resident there tested positive for a mutated strain of coronavirus.

The 48-year-old woman, who is a migrant domestic worker, was among four new confirmed patients on Tuesday, with the others recently flying in from Indonesia and India.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said the infected helper arrived from the Philippines in late March, and tested negative during her stay at a quarantine hotel in Wan Chai and again on April 25, a few days after leaving the hotel.

After the government ordered all helpers in the territory to get tested, the woman took another test on Sunday with the result eventually coming back positive.

Chuang said it’s unclear whether the helper was infected in Hong Kong or abroad, because she had high antibody levels suggesting the infection could have occurred before she arrived in the territory.

But the infection is being treated as a possible local case for now.

The woman’s employer lives in Block R of Allway Gardens and all residents of the building are considered to be close contacts and are being put in quarantine.

In the past couple of weeks, the helper had taken her employer’s child to a number of places in Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung.

These include the Annunciation Catholic Kindergarten, the Wellcome supermarket in Allway Gardens, the D Park mall, as well as music centres in the estate and at Kwai Chung’s Metroplaza.

People who went to these places at the same time as the helper will be subject to mandatory Covid tests.

As well as the confirmed cases on Tuesday, there were several preliminary positive cases, including a school teacher in Tung Chung and two domestic helpers who live in Tai Koo and Pok Fu Lam.