New cluster exposes loophole in HK quarantine - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2021/06/new-cluster-exposes-loophole-in-hk-quarantine
New cluster exposes loophole in HK quarantine. A cluster of three Covid cases break a 42-day streak of zero new untraceable local infections in Hong KongA cluster of three people who were infected with the Alpha variant of Covid-19 has exposed a loophole in the quarantine system for incoming travelers in Hong Kong. On Saturday, a 17-year-old secondary schoolgirl tested positive for the highly infectious N501Y mutant strain that was first detected in the United Kingdom. It was the first time the variant – labeled by the World Health Organisation as Alpha with a scientific name of B.1.1.7 – had been discovered in Hong Kong.However, her sample tested negative to the E484K and L452R strains, which originated in Brazil and India, respectively.The girl, who lives at Shing Yu House, Tin Shing Court, in Tin Shui Wai, developed a fever, runny nose, headache and loss of smell on June 2. She studies at the Queen Elizabeth School Old Students’ Association Tong Kwok Wah Secondary School at Tin Wah Road and attended a tutorial class at an industrial building at Tsun Wen Road, Tuen Mun.
Citing the results of genome sequencing of the virus, the Centre for Health Protection said the cluster was unrelated to the previously confirmed cases reported in Hong Kong, as well as the recent cases identified in Shenzhen.
Gilman Siu, an associate professor at the Department of Health Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said the 17-year-old girl’s virus sample had at least 10 mutants different from the previously identified UK variant, showing that the transmission could have gone through several generations.Siu said the patients were probably infected by an incoming traveler due to a loophole in Hong Kong’s quarantine system. Siu said the girl’s cycle threshold (CT) value was 18, while her mother’s was between 16 and 19, meaning they both had a large amount of coronavirus in their bodies. He said the cluster was much more infectious than the Indian engineer, who came from Dubai and triggered a virus outbreak in Hong Kong in April.Infectious diseases expert Leung Chi-chiu said there was an urgent need to review Hong Kong’s quarantine system and break the transmission chain as early as possible because many people would soon return to the city for their summer holidays.Leung said if this cluster triggered a large-scale virus outbreak, it would become the fifth-wave epidemic in the city.However Ronald Lam, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said Hong Kong was among the top places globally in terms of its strict quarantine requirements. He said people in Hong Kong should take the initiative to get vaccinated, otherwise the territory could suffer from outbreaks similar to those in Taiwan and India.
Tam Yiu-chung, the sole Hong Kong representative in the National People’s Congress standing committee, said the possible “border-reopening” between Hong Kong and the mainland could be delayed by the new cases found in the territory.Tam said if Hong Kong could significantly boost its vaccination rate, it was still hopeful that the border-reopening would be implemented step by step.Presently, people from Hong Kong are required to be quarantined for 14 days when entering the mainland. Under the Return2HK scheme, Hong Kong residents are allowed to return to the special administrative region from the mainland without being isolated.
Since May 21, Guangzhou has reported a total of 80 Covid-19 cases. The Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission said people leaving the city must show proof of a negative Covid-19 test result within the past two days
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