Hong Kong’s number of new coronavirus cases has remained in the single digits for the third consecutive day, with three new cases announced today. However, health officials have warned citizens not to fall into a false sense of security and said that Hongkongers should keep up social distancing and hygiene measures.
During today’s coronavirus briefing, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Center for Health Protection’s communicable diseases branch said all three cases had a recent travel history. Two of the patients are Hongkongers studying abroad in the US and UK, and the third is a 53-year-old man who returned from the United States. The UK student had already spent 14 days in quarantine before testing positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, the CHP is talking to Thai authorities after a 61-year-old Hong Kong man who was treated for coronavirus in Thailand tested positive for the virus after returning to Hong Kong. The patient is reported to be famed opera singer Warren Mok, who spent three weeks in hospital in Thailand and was admitted to intensive care during his stay. He was discharged on Saturday after he tested negative for coronavirus and given a certificate of health, which enabled him to fly back to Hong Kong. He did not show any symptoms upon his arrival, but was given a mandatory throat swab test and tested positive again.
Chuang said yesterday that it was “possible” that the reduced opening hours of testing clinics over Easter could have influenced the number of recorded cases. CHP controller Wong Ka-hing reiterated that citizens should not take the lower number of cases as a sign that the outbreak is “under control”, and urged everyone to continue practicing good hygiene and social distancing.
“The lower number of new infections has perhaps eased everyone’s worries a little, but we shouldn’t allow ourselves to get slack. As we have seen before, the virus can come back. The one method [of containment] that has proven to work is prevention, so we must all continue to protect ourselves and be careful not to catch the virus,” Wong said.
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