Authorities are investigating the spread of the coronavirus among seven residents from the same block of a housing estate in Sha Tin. A leading infectious disease expert has offered a new theory: kitchen fans.
Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, a microbiology professor at the University of Hong Kong, told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Friday that kitchen extraction fans blasting out air upwards could be to blame for the spread of the virus.
Of the seven COVID-19 patients living in Luk Chuen House, Lek Yuen Estate, five of them live in three units numbered 12.
Two households with infections live on floors above the 34-year-old woman, who is “patient zero” of the cluster, and her husband.
“A patient, who had a high viral load, could blast out air [with virus] when cooking,” Yuen, who sits on the government’s COVID-19 advisory panel, said. “As the kitchen temperature during cooking is usually higher, the air [extracted by the fan] would rise and go up.”
If the flats above did not have their fans on and wind was blowing towards those flats, people living upstairs could get infected, he added.
Authorities had earlier inspected the flats of the infected patients but did not find any defects in the sewage systems. Further investigation is underway.
Besides for the five residents living in units numbered 12, two others living in unit 10 on the same floor as the 34-year-old have also tested positive.
A total of 75 residents living in units numbered 10 and 12 have been evacuated and transferred to the quarantine center at Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan as of Friday morning, according to a government press release.
“The [Center of Health Protection] has been proactively conducting epidemiological investigations and carrying out preventive control measures in regard to the cluster in Luk Chuen House,” according the statement.
The spate of new cases has sparked concern that the virus could be spreading silently in the community. At least nine cases have been linked to the 34-year-old woman, who also infected two of her colleagues at Kerry Logistics warehouse in Tsuen Wan and a paramedic who brought her to the hospital.
