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San Po Kong was the scene of the latest lockdown. Photo: May Tse

Coronavirus: Hong Kong resumes lockdowns after Lunar New Year break as site cordoned off in San Po Kong

  • Residents taken by surprise when authorities cordon off Tong Seng Mansion and Cambridge Building on Kam Wing Street at 8.30pm for mandatory testing
  • Up to 70,000 people register for Covid-19 jabs on the first day of the city’s mass vaccination drive opening, fully booking slots for two weeks
Hong Kong officials sprang another “ambush-style” Covid-19 lockdown on Tuesday evening after a 13-day break following Lunar New Year, while 12 new infections were confirmed citywide.
The day also saw up to 70,000 residents registering for Covid-19 jabs on the first day of the city’s mass vaccination drive opening, fully booking available slots for two weeks from the coming Friday.

In a separate development, the Executive Council approved a plan to raise the cap on public gatherings from two people to four, which will take effect at midnight on Tuesday.

The Food and Health Bureau had earlier said it planned to relax the rule on March 3. A number of social-distancing curbs were loosened last week amid an easing of the epidemic.

Residents of San Po Kong, meanwhile, were taken by surprise when authorities cordoned off Tong Seng Mansion and Cambridge Building on Kam Wing Street at 8.30pm for mandatory testing.

The lockdown was expected to end at 7am on Wednesday, and those in the area were told to stay in their homes until all of them had been tested for Covid-19 and most of the results were ascertained.

A government spokesman said the lockdown was necessary following the recent confirmation of a Covid-19 case in Cambridge Building, adding that subdivided units were common in the two premises in question.

The government had carried out 26 similar lockdowns between January 23 and February 10. Officials had promised a break during the Lunar New Year holiday.

A nurse receives a Covid-19 vaccination at the Hong Kong Central Library. Photo: Ming Pao

Eleven of the latest cases were locally transmitted, including three which were untraceable. The other was imported from the Philippines and involved a mutant strain of the virus. More than 10 people also tested preliminary-positive.

The city’s total tally of cases stood at 10,896, with 197 related deaths.

Health authorities revealed 40 people so far had tested positive for mutant Covid-19 strains, including 27 who had the variant first identified in Britain. Four had the South Africa type, while one was infected with the Brazilian variant. Eight remain uncategorised.

Tuesday’s three untraced cases involved a kitchen worker at a Tsuen Wan restaurant, an unemployed San Po Kong resident who shopped at Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui, and a tele-saleswoman in Ngau Tau Kok who did not have direct contact with customers. Around 10 of the kitchen worker’s colleagues and about 20 of the saleswoman’s co-workers would be quarantined.

Another three infections were linked to Caritas Lok Yi School, a special needs institution that has been tied to a total of 10 cases so far, including students, staff and their family members.

Peter Lee, a senior nursing officer, was among those who received a Covid-19 jab on Tuesday. Photo: Victor Ting

Meanwhile, a 22-year-old flower seller at 18 Flower Market Road in Prince Edward tested preliminary-positive for the virus. He worked from February 2 to 13.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre of Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said the risk of transmission at the flower shop was not high.

“During work he wore a mask, so I think the contact between him and the clients is quite brief and the risk is not high. If those who have visited the shop are worried, they should get tested,” she said.

Earlier on Tuesday, vaccinations began at 11am for a select group of 200, and will get under way on Friday for the rest of the city’s 2.4 million priority residents after the first million jabs from mainland China manufacturer Sinovac arrived at the end of last week.

“I hope today’s vaccinations will show residents how the process works so they can gain some confidence in the system,” Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said outside the Central Library inoculation centre.

He added that each of the five community centres administering Sinovac jabs could handle 2,500 inoculations a day, and that the extension of the programme to private medical practitioners would be sped up to allow more online booking.

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam receives city’s first Covid-19 vaccine

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam receives city’s first Covid-19 vaccine

Some priority groups – including health care workers, care home staff and people providing essential public services – were selected to receive their jabs on Tuesday morning in a bid to encourage others to come forward and get vaccinated.

Chan, a 60-year-old retiree, said it took him 40 minutes to book a slot online overnight. Arriving 15 minutes before his appointment, he got his jab at 10.20am, then rested for 30 minutes as advised before leaving the Central Library in Causeway Bay.

A Hong Kong pilot receives a coronavirus vaccination on Tuesday at the Hong Kong Central Library in Causeway Bay. Photo: Ming Pao

“We have waited a whole year for this. Isn’t it better to get a vaccine now and earlier, in case you contract Covid-19 tomorrow?” he asked.

Hong Kong schools welcome back pupils as Covid-19 rules eased

Chan said he had high blood pressure, but did not seek a medical opinion before being vaccinated, nor did he experience any immediate side effects.

Asked what his biggest wish was after vaccination, he named quarantine-free travel to the mainland, adding he believed the government would soon make such arrangements with Macau and Shenzhen.

Peter Lee, a senior nursing officer at the Department of Health, was among the health workers chosen to receive jabs on Tuesday.

“Very frankly, when many people in society are living rough, I hope, as a nurse, and indeed everyone, will take a small step, so [Hong Kong] can come out of this pandemic,” he said.

The veteran nurse said he did not feel anything after the jab, adding he had more confidence in the Sinovac vaccine as it used the traditional inactivated virus technology used in flu vaccines, rather than the new mRNA platform used in the BioNTech doses.

Peter Clemmow, a senior pilot at Cathay Pacific Airways, was among those getting the jabs due to his status as a cross-border transport worker, one of five groups given vaccination priority.

Describing the opportunity as a “real privilege”, Clemmow said: “I am really proud to be here … I think any vaccine inside our arm is a good vaccine.”

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam gets city’s first Covid-19 jab

Clemmow added he believed the aviation sector would continue to work with the government to open up air travel as soon as possible.

On Monday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and other senior officials became the first in the city to be vaccinated.

Lam on Tuesday said she had not felt any discomfort after receiving her jab the previous day. “I don’t even feel any pain in the part of my arm where the injection was administered.”

She again debunked rumours claiming the vaccines she and other officials received were not ones manufactured by Sinovac. The false claims circulated online just hours after she was immunised.

Covid-19: Officials hint at possibly reopening border if enough residents vaccinated

The roll-out of the Sinovac jabs comes less than a week after it was approved for emergency use by the city’s health authorities following a recommendation by an expert panel. However, some medical professionals questioned the panel’s decision, because it had not waited for Sinovac to publish data in a peer-reviewed medical journal, as it had for BioNTech.

Priority residents would be able to receive Sinovac shots from Friday at five community vaccination centres, the government announced on Tuesday.

Another 24 centres will provide the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, co-developed by firms in Germany and the United States, once the first batch arrives by the end of the month as expected.

The Sinovac vaccines will also be available at 1,500 private clinics and 18 government-run general outpatient clinics.

Additional reporting by Lilian Cheng, Zoe Low and Danny Mok

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Lockdowns resume after holiday pause
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