Hong Kong health authorities will overhaul Covid-19 testing procedures at designated quarantine hotels to improve quality control, a senior official has revealed, as experts questioned why several infected patients were only detected after their isolation period had finished. Permanent Secretary for Food and Health Thomas Chan Chung-ching on Friday said possible measures included asking a third party to carry out quality checks on specimen collection procedures in hotels and requiring nurses to take samples from those under quarantine. The revamp was announced as officials confirmed three new coronavirus cases, taking the city’s total to 11,802. The city’s related death toll remained at 210. Fewer than 10 people tested preliminary-positive. “We are currently reviewing the control measures and test arrangements at designated hotels, and review results will be announced later,” Chan told a press conference. Infectious diseases experts had queried why four out of 11 locally detected variant cases were only identified after patients had completed their quarantine period. They urged the government to investigate whether cross-infections were occurring in quarantine hotels or if testing procedures were carried out properly. They also called on the government to allow nurses or trained medical staff to take specimens. Quarantine release for over 1,000 residents as Hong Kong eases Covid-19 rules Specimens in the four cases were collected by mainland China-backed firm BGI, which was found to have contaminated samples in its lab last month. Health authorities asked the company for an investigation report. Most of the some 260 variant cases in Hong Kong were detected at the airport and quarantine hotels, and classified as imported. One of Friday’s new cases highlighted the issue. A 22-year-old domestic worker from Indonesia was classified as an imported case even though her infection was detected after she finished 21 days of quarantine. She tested negative multiple times during her isolation at the Silka Hotel in Yau Ma Tei and then she stayed in Tai Po with her employer. Under a mandatory testing order for all domestic helpers, a specimen taken from her on May 5 was positive with a high viral load. She tested negative for the L452R mutation but results on the N501Y and E484K ones were still pending. Dr Albert Au Ka-wing of the Centre for Health Protection said clinical results suggested she could have contracted the virus and recovered. A cluster of variant cases sparked by a 29-year-old engineer from Dubai and his 31-year-old female friend grew to eight people, he said. A 67-year-old housewife living at Hing Wah Estate in Chai Wan was also confirmed infected. She is the mother of the engineer’s female friend. Flexibility urged as thousands of Hong Kong helpers scramble to get Covid-19 tests Most in the cluster contracted variants first seen in Brazil and South Africa – involving the N501Y and E484K mutations – after attending a birthday party in Sham Shui Po on April 18, Au said. He added the pair were not at the party, but three other subsequently infected domestic helpers attended. The trio lived in private housing estates: Kornhill in Quarry Bay; Royalton in Pok Fu Lam; and Caribbean Coast in Tung Chung. They attended two beach parties in Deep Water Bay on April 25 and May 1. About 25 close contacts who joined the gatherings must undergo 21 days of mandatory quarantine. Dr Gilman Siu Kit-hang and his team from Polytechnic University’s department of health technology and informatics, said the genetic sequence of the mutation from South Africa was found entirely consistent among the engineer, the Caribbean Coast helper and the 10-month old baby she took care of. A highly alike mutation was also found in the helper’s boss, the 36-year-old mother of the baby, which could be a third or fourth generation of the strain, Siu said. But Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee said the city had not detected an outbreak linked to mutated variants. Global Covid-19 death toll ‘more than double official estimates’ The other newly confirmed case was a 29-year-old male employee of the BGI testing lab who was sent to hospital on Tuesday after a positive result at a mobile station operated by a rival company in Yuen Long. Au said the man was not infected with a strain and had a low viral load which could be attributed to having received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine, the second one on April 20. He said the man was a supervisor at a community vaccination centre, but was not involved in collecting samples. Before falling sick, he lived temporarily at the BGI office in Tai Po because of the heavy workload, he said.

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