Pregnant woman who avoided quarantine got infected

Health officials said on Sunday that a pregnant woman, who concealed the fact that she was a close contact of a Covid-19 case, had come down with the virus.

Dr Chuang Shuk Kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said a family member, who was already infected, had intentionally omitted that they lived together, and the pregnant woman only returned to their subdivided flat after nine of their neighbours had been sent to a quarantine camp at the end of last month.

Dr Chuang said the 32-year-old woman had tested negative in a mandatory virus check at that time, but felt unwell a few days later and went to Kwong Wah Hospital on Friday.

The woman had also visited Queen Elizabeth Hospital for pregnancy check-ups but didn’t reveal that one of her family members had caught the virus.

Dr Chuang said the two patients could face legal consequences.

“Under Cap 599D Prevention and Control [of Disease] Ordinance, there’s a disclosure of information [regulation], so if we have evidence the confirmed case has intentionally refused to disclose all the information, and hiding information from us, that may lead to the spread of illness, we may take legal action,” she said.

She added a mandatory testing order would be imposed for the second time on the building the pregnant woman lives in at 159 Reclamation Street.

Hong Kong in total reported 27 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday. Twenty-four were locally acquired, six from an unknown source.

One of the newly confirmed cases was a close contact of a construction worker for the third runway project.

Residents in eleven buildings – in Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Kwun Tong, Tai Wo, Tai Po, Tsing Yi, Tung Chung and To Kwa Wan – were ordered to get tested.