Guests check out at the Royal Garden hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui after three of the hotel’s employees tested positive for COVID-19, on Oct 9, 2020, Hong Kong. (PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DALIY)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong reported eight new COVID-19 cases on Friday as guests at a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel were evacuated after some of the employees there were infected. 

Royal Garden hotel said it would suspend operations from Oct 9 to 22, and all hotel guests were advised to check out before noon on Friday

Among the eight new cases, seven were locally transmitted and the remaining was imported from India, Chuang Shuk-kwan, who heads the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said at a press briefing. The new cases brought the city’s infection tally to 5,169.

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Three out of seven new local cases involved male employees of the Royal Garden hotel, Chuang said. In a notice on its website, the hotel said it would suspend operations from Oct 9 to 22, and all hotel guests were advised to check out before noon on Friday. 

According to Chuang, around 300 male staff members of the hotel were being sent to government facilities, where they would be quarantined for two weeks. They were believed to have been exposed to the virus when using a changing room.

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One new case involving a 25-year-old unemployed man living in Prince Edward has an unknown origin, Chaung said. It is the 10th day in a row with at least one case of an unknown origin.

A total of 64 cases were reported between Oct 2 and Oct 8, among which 55 percent were local infections, a notable rise from 20 percent the previous week, Under Secretary for Food and Health Chui Tak-yi told the press conference.

Chui said that the proportion of new infections with unknown origin climbed to 19 percent over the past week, showing that there are still silent transmission chains in the community, which is alarming. He urged the public to stay vigilant.

Concerns over virus transmission in bars also grew after China Secret, an unlicensed bar in Tsim Sha Tsui, was linked to an infection cluster of at least 10 patients.

In light of the recent development of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has arranged to distribute specimen collection packs at bar areas for three consecutive nights starting from Friday to encourage employees at bars and their patrons to undergo voluntary testing.
Specimen bottles were distributed at the Lan Kwai Fong area on Friday evening. The packs will be delivered in Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai on Saturday and on Sunday night, respectively. 

According to the Hospital Authority, 123 patients are still being treated in hospitals, including nine in critical condition.

With inputs from Xinhua