HONG KONG-Hong Kong health authorities on Tuesday advised students who develop pneumonic symptoms while studying overseas to seek local treatment, instead of venturing back to the city and exposing others to the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus on their journey home.
As students overseas rush to make it back to Hong Kong before Thursday, when mandatory quarantine for all arrivals will take effect, the head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, Chuang Shuk-kwan, told a press briefing that the large number of returning students has put pressure on the government’s manpower and medical resources.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong reported 10 new confirmed cases of infection of the coronavirus, all linked to overseas travel, bringing the total to 167.
Nine of the new patients recently returned from the United States or European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria. Another patient with no recent travel history had dinner with a friend back from Switzerland, who will be tested for the virus to ascertain the source of infection.
Three cases involved university students studying in the UK and Switzerland, aged 18, 21 and 27. They all developed symptoms while in Europe.
Chuang said overseas students with symptoms should seek local medical help as soon as possible. This will ensure timely treatment and reduce the risk of infecting other people on their flights back to Hong Kong.
For those who showed no symptoms before their return, Chuang advised them to maintain strict personal hygiene in their journey back to the city.
The Hospital Authority chief manager (clinical effectiveness and technology management), Linda Yu, said that 21 arrivals with symptoms were sent straight to the hospital on Monday.
The city now has 954 isolation beds, 40 percent of which are occupied, up from about 30 percent in the past two weeks, Yu said.
The occupancy rate is expected to remain high, and the authority will provide more beds when necessary, she added.
The authority is worried about the situation, with an increase in imported cases and a spike in the number of overseas students returning to Hong Kong, Yu said.
In another development, the SAR government found four positive results when testing for the coronavirus in 12 locations at Hong Tai House, Cheung Hong Estate, in the southwestern New Territories, where three residents on two different floors contracted the disease.
The positive results were found near the toilet seats of two patients and the exhaust outlets of a rooftop.
The government confirmed in a statement that all structures were built at mandated standards, adding that a cross-governmental task force will review the test results and investigate ways to improve things.
So far, samples taken from 43 residents of the building have tested negative. They are now staying in a government-designated quarantine center. Some 100 samples from residents who are not quarantined have also tested negative, according to health authorities.
