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New COVID-19 mutant strain already spreading in Hong Kong: expert

蘋果日報 2021/05/01 19:34


A new coronavirus variant is already spreading in Hong Kong, as the first locally acquired case of a COVID-19 variant has been found to be the same as that of an imported case, said a medical expert.
A test conducted by the University of Hong Kong showed that the mutant strains found in the two cases — a 39-year-old domestic helper living in the Caribbean Coast complex in Tung Chung and a 29-year-old man who returned to Hong Kong from Dubai — are the same, top Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung told Apple Daily. Both cases carry the same B.1.351 variant which was first detected in South Africa, he said.
The test results showed that a new mutant strain — different from the Nepal variant that previously hit Hong Kong — has already begun spreading across the city, said Yuen, the chair of infectious diseases at HKU.
The spread could be related to loopholes in border control or hotel quarantine facilities, the professor said. False negative test results of the South African variant, which is even more contagious than its predecessors, may have also contributed to community transmission, he added.
The government should conduct contact tracing for all residents who had been recently tested, especially those who recently completed their quarantine at Ramada Hong Kong Grand Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, where the 29-year-old man stayed, Yuen said.
He urged the government to introduce new measures to ease false negative test results, such as a regular check on private labs that were conducting the COVID-19 tests, and any samples collected.
The government has ordered all domestic helpers in Hong Kong to get tested for COVID-19 by May 9 if they have not been vaccinated. But Yuen said such widespread testing would not be as efficient as speedy contact tracing, if authorities wanted to learn how the new mutant strain of coronavirus began to spread.
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