Causeway Bay And Tuen Mun Lockdowns On Omicron Fears

Health authorities on Tuesday locked down two buildings in Causeway Bay for compulsory Covid testing on concerns about the Omicron variant. The move followed a lockdown earlier in the day in Tuen Mun, after Hong Kong's first untraceable local case in more than two months.

Causeway Tower at 16-22 Causeway Road in Causeway Bay was sealed off at about 10.30 pm.

"As a preliminary tested positive case who has lived in the above-mentioned building was detected today, and the preliminary test result involved a mutant strain, the risk of infection in the relevant area is assessed to be likely higher, so the government decided to make a 'restriction-testing declaration' for the relevant area after the test result was found to be positive," a spokesman said.

The case involves a 48-year-old woman. She is part of a cluster linked to a 28-year-old female Cathay Pacific aircrew worker. The Cathay worker had developed symptoms on December 29, lives in North Point and had stayed with a friend in Tung Chung.

The 48-year-old is connected to the Cathay worker via another patient, a 62-year-old female family member of the Cathay employee. The 48-year-old developed symptoms last Sunday. She had danced with the 62-year-old, and some 20 friends, on New Year's Eve in Victoria Park and at the Causeway Bay Community Centre.

Shortly afterwards at 11.05 pm, Chesterfield Mansion at 11 Kingston Street in Causeway Bay - and a restricted area nearby - was also sealed off.

This case involves a 43-year-old foreign domestic helper. Her employer is another close contact of the 62-year-old family member of the Cathay aircrew worker.

The helper developed symptoms last Sunday and it was arranged by her employer to go a domestic helper boarding house at Rialto Mansion on King's Road in North Point on Tuesday. She was sent to hospital on the same day and tested preliminarily positive.

According to information given to the Department of Health, the 62-year-old had visited the residence of the domestic helper and her employer at Chesterfield Mansion on December 30. The employer had also danced with the 62-year-old on New Year's Eve.

The government said both Causeway Bay testing exercises should also end at 8 am.

The government said anyone who had been in the buildings for more than two hours between December 15 and January 4 must also get tested. It said, as a mutant strain was involved, this also included vaccinated persons.

Earlier on Tuesday, at about 7 pm, a building in Tuen Mun was also locked down for Covid testing.

Block 2 of Tsui Ning Garden on Fung On Street is where a man - who tested preliminary positive for Covid-19 with no clear source of infection - has his home.

The Centre for Health Protection's Albert Au said the 42-year-old surveyor was not vaccinated and had not been to any high-risk places, such as Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong, where the Moon Palace restaurant has been linked to an Omicron cluster.

The man works in North Point and saw a private doctor on Monday, after developing a fever - and was sent to hospital. Doctor Au said there was a high possibility that the man had been infected with the Omicron variant.

Authorities expect the Tuen Mun testing exercise to end at about 6.30 am.

On Tuesday, health authorities here reported 39 newly-confirmed Covid cases, 26 of them asymptomatic. Twelve more patients were found to have been infected with the Omicron variant, bringing Hong Kong's total to 114.