Covid-19: Hong Kong considering shorter quarantine for fully vaccinated arrivals

The compulsory coronavirus quarantine period for fully vaccinated people may be reduced, Hong Kong’s health chief said to lawmakers on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the city reported four coronavirus infections, one of which was potentially a locally transmitted case with unknown origins.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan also told a meeting of the Legislative Council’s panel on health services that the government was looking into reducing the quarantine period for fully vaccinated close contacts of Covid-19 patients.

covid-19 coronavirus vaccine — Photo: Patrick Nip, via Facebook.

It came after lawmaker Ann Chiang questioned why residents of Beauty Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui, who had received two doses of vaccine, were sent to quarantine. Lawmakers were also concerned about the government’s lack of incentives for Hongkongers to get the jab.

As of Monday, around 971,900 people have received their first dose of vaccine, while 557,600 people have been fully vaccinated.

Compulsory quarantine

The government imposed a 21-day quarantine for residents of Beauty Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui on Monday after a 28-year-old resident tested positive the N501Y mutant strain.

Another patient, a foreign domestic worker who arrived in Hong Kong on March 31, also tested positive with the N501Y mutant strain, health officials announced on Tuesday, after all migrant domestic workers were ordered last Friday to undergo a compulsory test.

The patient completed her compulsory quarantine on April 21, and went to the Immigration Department on the same day. Details of compulsory testing orders for visitors who went to the same locations as the patient will be published, said the Head of the Centre for Health Protection’s Communicable Disease Branch Chuang Shuk-kwan.

Foreign domestic worker covid-19 test — Foreign domestic workers wait in line under the sun to get Covid-19 tests.

Domestic worker activists slammed the government’s order to test all of Hong Kong’s 370,000-odd foreign domestic workers as “stigmatising” after a single worker was diagnosed with two mutant strains.

Health officials were unable to rule out that the case might be imported, given the patient’s recent travel history. Residents of block R of Allway Gardens, Tsuen Wan, will have to undergo compulsory quarantine for 21 days, Chuang said.

Meanwhile, the government also imposed an “ambush lockdown” in the block on Tuesday evening, and aimed to have all residents tested by 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

And following reports of upper respiratory tract infection and influenza-like illness outbreaks in schools, the government also imposed a compulsory testing order on 42 schools on Monday.

List of schools to be tested by Thursday (Click to open)

Kwai Ming Wu Memorial School of The Precious Blood, Luk Yeung Sun Chuen, 22-66 Wai Tsuen Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories
S.K.H. Ling Oi Primary School, 15 Ma Miu Road, Yuen Long, New Territories
Chan’s Creative School, New Wing, 71 Boundary Street, Kowloon
Raimondi College Primary Section, 1E Shiu Fai Terrace, Stubbs Road, Wan Chai
St. Paul’s Primary Catholic School, Hing Wah (II) Estate, Chai Wan
Tuen Mun Government Primary School, Siu Hong Court, Tuen Mun, New Territories
Queen Elizabeth School Old Students’ Association Branch Primary School, Area 3, Phase 4, Tin Shui Wai, New Territories
S.T.F.A. Wu Mien Tuen Primary School, Tin Heng Estate, Tin Shui Wai, New Territories
Christian & Missionary Alliance Chui Chak Lam Memorial School, 68 Kin Tak Street, Yuen Long, New Territories
TWGHs Ma Kam Chan Memorial Primary School, 2 Ching Shing Road, Sheung Shui, New Territories

List of schools to be tested by Saturday (Click to open)

St. Clare’s Primary School and Kindergarten, 3-6 Prospect Place, Bonham Road, Central & Western District
St. Antonius Primary School / St. Antonius Kindergarten, 1 Yau Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon
Pooi To Primary School and Kindergarten, 3 Fuk Cheung Street, Ma Tau Chung, Kowloon
Po Leung Kuk Tin Ka Ping Siu Hong Kindergarten, Level 3, Commercial Centre of Siu Hong Court, Tuen Mun, New Territories
Gracefield East Kowloon Christian Kindergarten / Gracefield Christian Nursery School, G/F, Cheong Sin House of Upper Wong Tai Sin Estate, Kowloon
Cannan Kindergarten (Charming Garden) / Cannan Nursery School (Charming Garden), G/F – 1/F, Block 12, Charming Garden, 8 Hoi Ting Road, Yau Tsim Mong, Kowloon
Tack Ching Kindergarten, 168 Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon
The Salvation Army Tsuen Wan Nursery School, 1/F, Clague Garden Estate, 22 Hoi Shing Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories
Yan Chai Hospital Wing Lung Kindergarten / Child Care Centre, Room 107-120, 122 & 124, G/F, Choi Yuk House of Choi Yuen Estate, Sheung Shui, New Territories
Cannan Kindergarten (Waterloo Road) / Cannan Nursery (Waterloo Road), 111 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
The Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council Yuen Long Day Nursery, G/F & 1/F, Orion Court, 23 Mau Tan Street, Yuen Long, New Territories
Kowloon City Baptist Church Ka Fuk Kindergarten, G/F, Ka Yiu House, Ka Shing Court, Fanling, New Territories
St. Andrew’s Catholic Kindergarten, Sheung Ning Road, Area 37, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories
S.K.H. Crown Of Thorns Church Kwai Chung Kindergarten, Unit 4, G/F, Chun Kwai House of Kwai Chung Estate, Kwai Chung, New Territories
The Salvation Army Jat Min Nursery School, 1/F, 15 Jat Min Chuen Street, Jat Min Chuen, Sha Tin, New Territorries
Tin King Estate Baptist Lui Kwok Pat Fong Kindergarten, Units 1- 10, G/F, Siu Pong Court, 38 Tin King Road, Tuen Mun, New Territories
Hong Kong Y.W.C.A. Athena Kindergarten, Unit 1-8, G/F, Han Ching House of Yee Ching Court, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon
Garden Estate Baptist Nursery School, Room 37, 2/F, Lotus Tower 2, Garden Estate, 297 Ngau Tau Kok Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon
The Salvation Army Wah Fu Nursery School, 1/F & 2/F, Wah Sang House of Wah Fu Estate, Hong Kong
Pok Oi Hospital Mrs. Yam Wing Yin Kindergarten and Day Nursery, Level 1, Tower 23, Laguna Verde, Hung Hom, Kowloon
Chan Mung Yan Lutheran Kindergarten, G/F, Hiu On House of Hiu Lai Court, Sau Mau Ping, Kwun Tong, Kowloon
St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic Kindergarten, 3/F – 4/F, St. Margaret Church Catholic Centre, 2A Broadwood Road, Happy Valley
The Salvation Army Ng Kwok Wai Memorial Kindergarten, G/F, Clague Garden Estate, 22 Hoi Shing Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories
Kindergarten and International Pre-nursery of St. Johannes College (Catholic School), 109 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children Operation Santa Claus Fanling Nursery School, G/F, Wah Koon House, Wah Sum Estate, Fanling, New Territories
The Fanling Assemblies of God Kindergarten, 301 Jockey Club Road, Fanling, New Territories
St. Catherine’s International Nursery (Hung Hom Campus), 1/F, Harbour Place, 8 Oi King Street, Hung Hom, Kowloon
S.K.H. Holy Spirit Church Kindergarten, G/F, Shun Wo House of Wo Che Estate, Sha Tin, New Territories
NTW & JWA Limited Yuen Long Nursery School, Room 409, 4/F, Yuen Long Town Hall, 4 Tai Yuk Road, Yuen Long, New Territories
Kentville Kindergarten, 5 – 7 Dorset Crescent , Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Kentville Kindergarten, 9 Kent Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Peace Evangelical Centre Kindergarten (Ngau Tau Kok), G/F,Sheung Mun House of Upper Ngau Tau Kok Estate Phase 1, Kwun Tong, Kowloon