Unlinked cases trend worrying: CHP

2020-11-12 20:31:14

(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Centre for Health Protection Communicable Disease Branch Head Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan today said the increasing trend in the number of unlinked local COVID-19 cases is a bit worrying.

She made the remarks at a press briefing this afternoon, noting that the centre recorded a growing number of locally acquired cases in the past two days.

"They do not have epidemiological links with known cases. So this is a bit worrying because for these cases, including drivers who stayed in various districts in Hong Kong, we could not find a definite link among them. This indicates that there is still quite a bit of transmission in the community."

She called on the public to stay vigilant in order to fight against the epidemic.

"With the high infectiousness of this virus, it is possible that we will be seeing more and more cases, whether they are linked or unlinked, in the coming days. So we have to be vigilant and keep up our personal hygiene, wear our masks well and avoid unnecessary activities as much as possible."

Meanwhile, the centre reported that it is investigating 23 new confirmed cases, of which 16 are imported and seven are locally transmitted.

Among the local cases, one is epidemiologically linked with a previous local case while the other six have unknown sources of infection.

The cases of unknown sources include the five drivers announced yesterday and the remaining one involves a 42-year-old man who held meetings with clients at work and attended a wedding banquet before he tested positive for the virus.

"Concerning case number 5427, the male patient works in sales. He sometimes has meetings with some clients, so I think one of the clients he met during the infectious period will be sent to a quarantine camp.

"For the participants of the wedding banquet, because it was not held during the confirmed COVID-19 patient's communicable period, it was held during the incubation period, we would just like to make sure that there is no source of infection or a cluster of cases as a result of that wedding banquet.

"We will ask the organiser of the banquet to send messages to those participants and ask them to try to use all the existing channels to undergo testing."

Dr Chuang added that some of the patient's close contacts are teachers and students who also need to be tested. The centre has asked the relevant schools to suspend classes for one to two days as a precautionary measure.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

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