Coronavirus Hong Kong: city on fifth-wave alert after infection of airport VIP lounge worker ends streak of zero local cases
- Woman, 47, is believed to have caught virus from transit passengers, but confirmation of this will be difficult
- In another recent case, authorities conclude the infection of a helper had occurred at a Wan Chai quarantine hotel
An airline VIP lounge worker suspected to be infected by transit flight passengers has ended Hong Kong’s nearly two-week run of zero local coronavirus cases, prompting officials to issue a warning of a fifth Covid-19 wave.
The 47-year-old woman’s untraceable infection, confirmed to be from the more transmissible Delta variant, came as an expert concluded the origin of another recent case centred on a quarantine hotel. The hotel case, involving a domestic helper, had sparked talks of revamped isolation rules for arrivals, but it was later found that her infection was probably through transmission of the virus between hotel rooms.
Officials on Tuesday put the city on alert with the emergence of the recent infections.
“We are looking at a sporadic spread caused by Delta and other variants. Of course we are worried whether these, just like in mainland China and other places, will spark a local fifth wave,” warned Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch.
The airport worker’s infection and two other imported ones formed three new cases confirmed on Tuesday. The imported infections involved an arrival from Britain and another from Oman via Dubai, with the former having been fully vaccinated with the BioNTech vaccine.
