Hong Kong saw the biggest surge in COVID-19 cases in almost two months, primarily from a cluster linked to a gym used by bankers, prompting firms including HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse to tighten health measures for employees.

Of the 60 cases reported on Friday, 47 were traced to Ursus Fitness in Sai Ying Pun on the western side of Hong Kong Island. They included 40 customers and seven close contacts with customers or gym workers, Hong Kong health officials said.

Friday’s tally came after 22 confirmed cases were reported a day earlier and was the highest since Jan. 27, when 60 cases were also recorded.

Another 20 people who tested positive in preliminary tests on Friday included cases related to the gym, officials said.

The latest cases took the cluster linked to Ursus Fitness to 64 people. Most of them started developing symptoms on Wednesday and Thursday, days after the first person fell ill last Saturday.

Among them were two bankers who were Ursus Fitness members, and a gym coach, Apple Daily learnt. They are now being treated in hospital on Hong Kong Island. One HSBC employee was among those who tested positive, the bank said.

The outbreaks at the gym, frequented by bank workers in the city, prompted their employers to step up heath control and quarantine measures.

HSBC issued a notice telling employees on the 22nd floor of its headquarters in downtown Hong Kong’s Central district to leave the office, while Credit Suisse required its workers take COVID tests after one of them tested positive following a visit to Ursus Fitness, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Goldman Sachs was planning to revert a policy of 50% of employees working from home, according to Bloomberg News.

Morgan Stanley, which has an office at ICC tower in Kowloon, where Credit Suisse’s office is located, asked some of its employees to work from home in the coming two weeks, Apple Daily learnt.

Standard Chartered closed a part of its Central headquarters after employees were understood to have been listed as close contacts with visitors to the gym. The bank said it would carry out deep cleansing on related floors.

All gym workers in Hong Kong now had to receive COVID tests before Sunday due to the latest outbreak in the Sai Ying Pun gym, Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said on Friday.

Click here for Chinese version

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play