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Published: 16:30, December 08, 2021 | Updated: 17:39, December 08, 2021
HK sees no new virus infection, probes re-positive case
By Wang Zhan
Published:16:30, December 08, 2021 Updated:17:39, December 08, 2021 By Wang Zhan

This Nov 14, 2021 picture shows a passenger scanning a QR code required by the Hong Kong government for contact tracing due to COVID-19 measures, before boarding a bus operated by a Hong Kong travel agency offering five-hour "quiet bus" tour marketed as a "route to nowhere" for travel-craving residents to snooze on board in Hong Kong. (BERTHA WANG / AFP)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported no new COVID-19 infections as health authorities investigated a suspected re-positive overseas case.

In a statement, the Centre for Health Protection said the case involves a 61-year-old man who lives at the Kimberley Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.

He arrived in Hong Kong on November 16 from Ghana by flight QR818 via Qatar. The specimen collected upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport was negative for COVID-19. The results of four tests conducted during the compulsory quarantine period at a Silka Far East Hotel in Tsuen Wan were also negative.

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The man, who has been asymptomatic, stayed in the Kimberley Hotel upon completion of the compulsory quarantine on November 30. He underwent another test on December 6 as required and tested positive for COVID-19. He carried the L452R mutant strain but does not carry the N501Y or E484K mutant genes and had a low viral load, the center said.

The government announced that Argentina, Croatia, Fiji and Latvia will be specified as Group A (high-risk) specified places from December 10. That means non-Hong Kong residents who have stayed in such places within 21 days will not be allowed to enter the city

Initial investigations by the CHP revealed that the patient had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Ghana in September this year. “After examining the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory findings, this case is compatible with a re-positive case,” the CHP said.

The CHP is following up the case with the Ghana health authorities and as a prudent measure, the places where he resided and visited in Hong Kong during the incubation period had been included in a compulsory testing notice.

On Tuesday, the Hong Kong government further tightened travel restrictions in light of the threat posed by the new COVID-19 variant Omicron.

In a statement issued, the government announced that Argentina, Croatia, Fiji and Latvia will be specified as Group A (high-risk) specified places from December 10. That means non-Hong Kong residents who have stayed in such places within 21 days will not be allowed to enter the city.

The announcement came after Omicron cases were detected in these countries.

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Hong Kong residents who have stayed in these places within the past three weeks can only board a flight for Hong Kong if they have been fully vaccinated and hold a recognized jab record.

They must also undergo compulsory quarantine in a designated quarantine hotel for 21 days upon arrival, with six tests to be conducted during quarantine, followed by compulsory testing in a community testing center on the 26th day of arrival at Hong Kong.

A total of 61 cases have been reported in the past 14 days and all of them are imported cases. The infection tally in the financial hub stood at 12,471.

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