The Hong Kong government is now empowered to order area-specific lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19, which would require people to isolate until they receive their test results.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said on Tuesday that the new legal mechanism was meant to reduce the risk of virus transmission. The Executive Council, Hong Kong’s de facto cabinet, has established a “clear legal framework” which allows the government to order a specific location to be put on lockdown for up to seven days.

Nearly 20 residents of Kwai Shing West Estate have tested positive for the virus, with most of them living on the same floor of the building.

The Department of Health will conduct a risk assessment before a lockdown is ordered, and welfare authorities will provide supplies — including food, toiletries and daily necessities — to residents ordered to stay home, Chan said.

Chan said that her department was still studying whether to place Kwai Shing West Estate under lockdown. The government will not order residents to stay in their homes if the building’s design would result in transmission risks, she added.

Hong Kong recorded 100 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, with 95 of them being local cases. Authorities said that 27 of them cannot be traced, while 68 were related to previous infections.

The “dance club cluster” recorded 13 new cases, which took the total to more than 660 cases.

Infection-control experts have also been sent to the AsiaWorld-Expo, now used as a quarantine facility, after nine more cases were found there. The team will review the infection-control practices among healthcare staff, said Chuang Shuk-kwa of the Centre for Health Protection.

Officials were also investigating a cluster at a YATA supermarket in Sha Tin, which has registered three confirmed cases and seven preliminary positives. The workers there might have been infected while using common facilities during meals in the supermarket’s small break room, Chuang said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam rejected accusations that her administration acted too slowly on the Kwai Shing West Estate situation. The Department of Health has not taken the threat lightly, she said.

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