A sudden Covid-19 lockdown in Yau Ma Tei yielded one positive case on Tuesday evening after 330 people underwent testing. Government workers visited 306 households, of which around 93 did not open the door.
The infected person has been quarantined along with a close contact, a government statement said on Wednesday.
The residential block in Yau Ma Tei between Pitt Street and Tung On Street was sealed off without notice at 7pm on Tuesday. The sudden move came after Chief Executive Carrie Lam told the press that future lockdowns would be imposed as unannounced “raids” to prevent residents from fleeing the area beforehand. A larger area nearby was placed under a cordon for 48-hours over the weekend, though many left the neighbourhood after news leaked.
See also: Jordan restaurant owners reel from Hong Kong’s first lockdown and an unending evening dine-in ban
Eight temporary specimen collection stations were set up on Tuesday night with results made available within 30 minutes. Around 380 civil servants were deployed whilst food was distributed to residents.
“The Government had also announced that the exercise was ended at around 6am today, so as to allow residents enough time to get prepared to start getting to work in the morning,” a government statement said. “The Government hopes this temporary inconvenience will completely cut the local transmission chains…”
The government said that some of the households which did not open the door could have been vacant and they will follow-up and trace occupants in the district, if they did not respond.
Hong Kong has recorded 10,223 coronavirus cases thus far and 172 deaths.
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