HK records 14 new infections, most in a single day
HONG KONG - Hong Kong recorded 14 cases of new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, the largest number of confirmed infections in a single day since the epidemic began in January. Eight more people were tested initially positive. All 22 new cases, except one, reported on Wednesday were linked to overseas travels.
READ MORE: Travel curb set to foreign countries
A health official has urged returnees who beat the quarantine deadline on Thursday to voluntarily stay at home for 14 days and seek medical treatment if they feel unwell
In the past 24 hours, a total of 60 arrivals, 32 of whom had declared their symptoms, were sent directly from the ports of entry to public hospitals for treatment.
In light of an increasing number of Hong Kong residents returning from abroad before a new round of quarantine measures takes effect on Thursday, the Hospital Authority said it was concerned that there may not be sufficient beds in isolation wards to accommodate all the infected patients. About 42.6 percent of all beds are currently occupied.
Three more coronavirus patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries from the disease to 94, while 69 patients remained hospitalized.
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health Wong Ka-hing urged those returnees who beat the quarantine deadline on Thursday to voluntarily stay at home for 14 days and seek medical treatment if they feel unwell.
Starting from Thursday, the government will test dozens of people considered high-risk of infection, especially the elderly, on their return from abroad at the airport.
More than 10,000 people arrived in Hong Kong on each of the past two days. It was impossible to test everyone of them, Wong said. Because of the limited capacity of the quarantine facilities, built mainly for close contacts of confirmed patients, home quarantine is the best option, Wong said.
Starting from Thursday, the government will test dozens of people considered high-risk of infection, especially the elderly, on their return from abroad at the airport
It is expected the infection cases will continue to rise in the coming one to two weeks, he added.
At the government’s daily briefing, Head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, Chuang Shuk-kwan, said it was hoped that mandatory home quarantine could reduce the transmission of the virus in the community.
Chuang noted that some patients had attended social activities in their incubation periods after returning from abroad.
The government will also beef up manpower at the airport to handle the surge of returnees from abroad. Health and custom officers will be posted at the airport to identify those with suspected symptoms and explained the mandatory quarantine arrangement to the arrivals. The increase of returnees has also put pressure on the frontline officers at the port of entry in sorting all arrivals, putting wristbands on those subject to home quarantine and sending some others with obvious symptoms to hospitals for treatment.
Among the 14 newly confirmed cases, 13 were linked to travels to Europe, the now epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak. A 34-year-old man who visited Germany and returned on March 11 developed symptoms on Monday. A 36-year-old man visited Netherlands and Switzerland between March 3 and 12 and developed a fever on March 14. Another man, 27, visited London from March 12 to 15 and developed a fever on Tuesday, after attending a wedding banquet in Sha Tin on Sunday.
New patients also included 28-year-old karate competitor Lee Chun-ho, who went for training in France and Austria from March 9 to 14 with three teammates, and came back via Bangkok. He was found to have symptoms on Sunday.
A man, 55, who joined a group tour to several countries of Western Europe with his wife, was confirmed to have been infected after developing a fever on Tuesday.
In another case, a man, 31, who visited Switzerland, is suspected to have infected an earlier local infection case on Tuesday, with whom he had dinner together.
A 63-year-old man, who visited the United States with wife from March 12 to Monday, was confirmed upon arrival.
One couple, both aged 29, also was confirmed to have the virus after traveling to Japan and Thailand between Feb 27 and March 14.
Another couple was also confirmed after the husband visited the wife in France and both returned from Spain on March 12.
The only confirmed patient that might have contracted the virus locally is a clerk at a Canadian international school, who has no travel history. She visited bars in Central’s Soho several times after work.
Eight people – four men and four women – were tested initially positive for the virus, including a 24-year-old female reporter from a local English-newspaper who returned from London on March 8. All of them have traveled overseas recently, most in the UK.
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