Omicron variant may be more contagious than Delta, warns Hong Kong expert after ‘surprisingly distant’ coronavirus hotel transmission

City also reports fourth Omicron case, a 38-year-old who had spent days in Hong Kong airport before being confirmed with Covid-19 following a pre-departure test

Two patients quarantining in hotel ‘never opened their doors at same time, never met each other, never shared any items, and still got infected’, professor says

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The city’s fourth Omicron case involved a transit passenger at Hong Kong airport. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 1:36pm, 1 Dec 2021Updated: 10:32am, 2 Dec 2021

The new Omicron variant of the coronavirus could be more contagious than the prevalent Delta strain, judging by a “surprisingly distant” transmission in a Hong Kong hotel, a top microbiologist warned on Wednesday, as a transit passenger who spent days at the airport became the city’s fourth case.

Medical experts from the University of Hong Kong also urged the public not to wait for a next-generation Covid-19 vaccine against the heavily mutated variant, saying existing shots were still useful.

The HKU team, which on Tuesday night revealed it had successfully isolated the new variant, said it would partner with companies in mainland China to develop a vaccine targeting Omicron.

The city reported its fourth Omicron case, a 38-year-old transit passenger who arrived from Qatar last Wednesday and was confirmed with Covid-19 on Sunday. He had spent four days in the airside restricted area of Hong Kong International Airport because of a visa-related issue, testing positive when he took a pre-departure test.

The patient, who was unvaccinated and asymptomatic, tested positive for antibodies and had a low viral load. About 20 airport staff were identified as his close contacts and sent to quarantine, a source said.

The Centre for Health Protection said the man first travelled from Papua New Guinea to Nigeria on November 15, and subsequently from Qatar to Hong Kong.

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, a government pandemic adviser who led the HKU research, meanwhile, said he believed Omicron might be more transmissive than Delta, based on the city’s first two infections of the new variant reported last week. The patients were travellers quarantined at the Regal Airport Hotel in nearby rooms.