Foreign domestic helpers line up at the temporary testing center for COVID-19, in Hong Kong, May 1, 2021. (KIN CHEUNG/AP)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong reported two new imported COVID-19 cases from the United States on Saturday, including a domestic helper carrying a more infectious variant, the city’s Centre for Health Protection said.

The 38-year-old foreign domestic helper lived at a house on Stanley Village Road in Stanley, the CHP said in a statement.

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She departed Hong Kong on June 18 for the United States and returned to the city via flight CX883 on Aug 1. Her COVID-19 test conducted on July 29 before her departure as well as the one conducted at the Hong Kong International Airport upon her arrival both returned negative.

She remained asymptomatic and finished her seven-day quarantine at a hotel, but her sample collected on Aug 12 – day 12 after her arrival in Hong Kong – tested preliminarily positive.

The Immigration Department said the Foreign Domestic Helpers Section at the Immigration Tower would suspend service on Saturday. Public services of the office will be resumed on Monday

The CHP said the test result by the Department of Health’s Public Health Laboratory Services Branch revealed that she carried the L452R mutant strain but did not carry N501Y or E484K mutant genes.

“The CHP has classified the case as an imported case,” the CHP said.

As a prudent measure, the places where she had visited during the incubation and infectious period in Hong Kong, including the third floor of the Immigration Tower and Hong Kong Tennis Centre in Wan Chai district, have been put under a compulsory testing notice. 

Anyone who had visited the relevant venues at specified periods needs to undergo compulsory testing on or before Aug 15, the CHP said. 

In a separate statement, the Immigration Department said the Foreign Domestic Helpers Section located on the third floor of the Immigration Tower would suspend service on Saturday. Public services of the office will be resumed on Monday.

The department added it had completed sterilization of the area and arranged all office staff to undergo COVID-19 testing.

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Meanwhile, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said thorough cleaning and disinfection of facilities at Hong Kong Tennis Centre has been completed. The center has reopened from 2 pm Saturday.

The other imported case reported on Saturday involved a 56-year-old man. Both the man and the domestic helper have completed their vaccination course with two doses of BioNTech vaccine, the CHP added.

A total of 46 cases have been reported in the past 14 days, comprising one local case with unknown sources and 45 imported ones. The infection tally of the financial hub stood at 12,032.

As of Friday night, more than 3.66 million people in Hong Kong have received at least the first dose of coronavirus vaccine, which translates into 53.9 percent of the population aged 12 and above in the city. Among them, over 2.84 million have been fully vaccinated.