The headquarters of HSBC is seen in Hong Kong on Thursday, July 25, 2019. (PAUL YEUNG / BLOOMBERG)

HSBC Holdings Plc’s main office in Hong Kong has been closed until further notice after three people working in the building tested positive for COVID-19.

Visitors who stayed at the building for more than two hours between March 2 and 15 would be required to undergo mandatory coronavirus tests, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.

The bank’s iconic main building in Hong Kong is located at 1 Queen’s Road Central.

A coronavirus outbreak at a Hong Kong gym popular among expatriates has spread, with positive cases appearing in the banking community, just as the city was emerging from a prolonged round of social restrictions and venue closures

A coronavirus outbreak at a Hong Kong gym popular among expatriates has spread, with positive cases appearing in the banking community, just as the city was emerging from a prolonged round of social restrictions and venue closures. The outbreak has prompted banks to tell their employees to work from home.

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The Hong Kong Economic Journal reported the closure earlier. HSBC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Children's Interests

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government said in a statement on Tuesday night that in COVID-19 cases where children are involved, “each and every decision" has been made in their interests and that of their families.

For any children under the age of 18 who need to be brought to quarantine centers (QCs), the Department of Health (DH) upon request would generally allow one of the parents to accompany and take care of them, according to the statement. 

In such cases, the parent and the child would remain in the same room until the quarantine period ends, it added.

If a parent tests positive and would be hospitalized, a caretaker arranged by the parents, who can be relatives, the parents' adult friends or domestic helpers, could be allowed to accompany the quarantined child.

For parents classified as close contacts of patients but would like to stay with their children with special needs who are not close contacts, the parent could make a request to the DH to bring their children to the QC, according to the statement.

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The children will need to stay with the parents for the whole quarantine period while the parents need to sign an undertaking that they fully understand the risk of infection, it added.

To cater for specific needs of children, including babies, the Social Welfare Department provides a wide range of items in the QCs available to minors, including cots, blankets, bumpers, clothes, cutlery, toiletries, diapers for children and babies, baby food and snacks, as well as colouring pencils and coloring books for children, according to the statement. 

Milk warmers, disinfectors for milk bottles and refrigerators for parents are also provided upon request. The DH and Civil Aid Service are doing their best to accommodate the needs for quarantined children, and make the QC environment as child-friendly as possible, it added.

With Bloomberg inputs