Two mainland returnees among latest Covid cases

Health officials said on Tuesday that two returnees from the mainland had tested positive for Covid-19, but there is no evidence so far to suggest they had been infected there.

The pair returned to Hong Kong separately, but within a few hours of each other via Shenzhen Bay on April 6.

Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said one of the returnees, a 46-year-old woman who had been to Dongguan, was exempted from quarantine as she had come back to Hong Kong through the government’s Return2HK scheme.

She worked as a housekeeper at a Tsuen Wan hotel from April 10 to 19.

“So we manage it as a local case in the moment because she has a number of activities in the community,” said Chuang.

The other returnee, a 56-year-old woman who had been to Fujian, had been observing home quarantine. She tested positive on the 12th day of her return to Hong Kong.

“We have quarantined all the other residents living in the same flat,” said Chuang. “We have not yet classified this case [as either local or imported], pending further investigation.”

Authorities also reported three other locally acquired infections on Tuesday – an office worker, a domestic helper and a construction worker, as well as three other cases classified as imported, from India and the Philippines.