A compulsory overnight lockdown at an apartment block in Tsuen Wan, ordered on Sunday evening after a case of the more infectious Delta variant was discovered, has found no new infections after 570 residents were tested.
The operation at Block 1 of Bo Shek Mansion was ordered after someone staying in the building was detected with the Delta variant after returning from Dubai.
The infection also prompted Hong Kong authorities to announce compulsory testing notices for two more apartment buildings and 11 other locations on Sunday evening.
Premises include seven restaurants across Kowloon, stores at The Cube and the OP shopping malls, and the Young+ Wellness Centre in Lai Chi Kok. Anyone who took the E31 bus route on the morning of August 15 will also have to undergo testing.
Anyone who had been to the specified premises within the designated times must take their first test by Tuesday. Compulsory testing notices were also issued for Sea View Mansion in Sai Ying Pun and Mei Yat House on Yat Tung (II) Estate in Tung Chung.
Compulsory testing notices for mutant strains requires anyone who had worked or lived in the buildings to undergo four tests: on the third, seventh, 12th and 19th day of the notice.
The notice also covers all residents in the buildings who have been fully vaccinated, “for prudence’s sake,” a statement said on Sunday.
The city’s local infections remain low. Hong Kong reported five new infections on Sunday, all of which were imported. Only one of the 41 cases reported in the past fortnight was an untraceable community infection.
Foreign Domestic Workers
Fully vaccinated foreign domestic workers from the Philippines will be allowed back into Hong Kong from next Monday onwards, according to Manila’s Department of Labor and Employment, allowing up to 3,000 to arrive next week.
Hong Kong’s Labour Department is expected to announce further arrangements for all incoming foreign domestic workers later on Monday.
The Hong Kong Labour Department earlier announced it would allow fully vaccinated foreign domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia to enter Hong Kong to begin or continue their employment, provided they can show a negative Covid test result within 72 hours of their flight and arrangements for 21 days of hotel quarantine.
The department has said it will arrange for newly arrived foreign domestic workers to be “centrally quarantined” in specified hotels. Employers are expected to pay the quarantine costs.
Flights from the Philippines have been suspended since April, while flights from Indonesia were banned in late June. Both countries are currently classified as “high-risk,” meaning only fully vaccinated residents of Hong Kong are allowed to enter from those countries, and must serve 21 days of hotel quarantine.
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