China coronavirus: death toll almost doubles in one day as Hong Kong reports its first two cases
- Authorities scramble to trace four family members of one of the patients, who continued their journey to Manila
- Mainland Chinese passenger travelled to city by high-speed rail, having earlier been to Wuhan
Hong Kong reported its first two cases of coronavirus infection on Wednesday, as mainland China’s death toll from the virus almost doubled in one day.
Authorities were also scrambling to track down four family members of one of the patients in Hong Kong, who had continued their journey to the Philippine capital, Manila.
A mainland Chinese tourist, 39, who arrived at the high-speed railway station in West Kowloon on Tuesday returned positive test results at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, while a source told the Post a 56-year-old man who had visited Wuhan – the city at the epicentre of the outbreak – also came back positive in an initial test at Prince of Wales Hospital. Both were moved to Princess Margaret Hospital, where the Hospital Authority Infectious Disease Centre is located.
As the city ramped up preparations to ward off possible contagion, health authorities in mainland China rolled out strict quarantine measures to try and choke the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus which had claimed at least 17 lives, as of 8pm. Nine people had been reported dead from the virus on Wednesday morning. Official reports at 11pm said all the fatalities were in Hubei province and that there were a total of 541 confirmed cases.
The man in the first case is a resident of Wuhan and was found to be suffering from a fever on his arrival at the rail terminus in West Kowloon.
Sources told the Post the man had undergone two tests that confirmed the infection, while the result of a third test involving gene sequencing was still pending. Secretary for Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee described it as a “highly suspected case” of the new virus with another test result due out on Thursday morning.