Five Hong Kongers evacuated from a residential building where a man and woman were confirmed to have the 2019 novel coronavirus tested negative for the virus, health authorities said yesterday, easing concerns of a cluster of the outbreak in the territory.
The five people were exhibiting flu-like symptoms earlier. They remain in quarantine together with 200-plus residents who were evacuated from the building in Tsing Yi District in the New Territories in the early hours.
The evacuation occurred after a 62-year-old woman on Monday became the second confirmed case in the building, Hong Mei House, after a 75-year-old man tested positive on Jan. 30. The two live on different floors.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Initial investigations into the drainage system in the building further reduced concerns that the virus might have spread through the pipes, authorities said.
The flat where the latest infection was discovered had had an alteration to its drainage system, but the pipe network in the public building was in good condition, they said.
Parts of Hong Kong, including restaurants, shopping malls and cafes, are almost deserted as people work from home and schools remain closed, evoking memories of 2003 when SARS sent panic across the territory.
Photo: Reuters
In 2003, initial exposure was blamed on high concentrations of the virus entering apartment bathrooms through floor drains in a complex called Amoy Gardens.
“The pipe design in the building is very good and even better than in many private properties, and it is definitely not the same situation as Amoy Garden,” Yuen Kwok-yung, chair of Infectious Diseases at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology, told reporters.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) earlier yesterday appealed for residents to stay indoors as much as possible.
“As part and parcel of enhancing social distancing we are making an appeal to the people of Hong Kong to stay at home as much as possible, but at the moment, we’re making this appeal, we’re not going for compulsory closures because Hong Kong is a free society,” Lam told reporters.
Hong Kong has confirmed 49 cases of the coronavirus.
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