Passengers wearing face masks wait on the platform in a MTR underground metro train in Hong Kong, Jan 27, 2020, as a preventative measure following a coronavirus outbreak which began in the Chinese mainland city of Wuhan. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)

HONG KONG - Initial tests on two persons showed positive for novel coronavirus, including the mother of a previously confirmed case, making them very likely the 15th and 16th confirmed cases in Hong Kong, health officials said on Sunday.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, said at a press briefing that the authorities were still tracing the source of the 12th and the 14th cases of infection and couldn’t rule out the possibility that both patients contracted the virus locally.

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The female patient began to show symptoms after she was quarantined owing to her son, a 39-year-old man, who was tested positive as the 13th infection in Hong Kong. 

The 14th case involved an 80-year-old local resident, who visited Shenzhen for a few hours on Jan 10. The man took a flight on Jan 17 to Japan with his two daughters and returned to the city on a cruise on Jan 25. 

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He started to show symptoms of coughing on Jan 19 and it has got worse since Jan 23. He was later hospitalized at Caritas Medical Centre on Jan 30 for high fever and was transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital.