An Indonesian migrant worker (PMI) who had lived in a boarding house has tested positive for the corona virus, the worker had lived in the Flat B dormitory, 10/F, Kin On Commercial Building, 49-51 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan, with four to five people. six other migrant domestic workers, and started working at a new employer last Saturday (1/8), Friday, (7/8/2020).
The PMI was taken to the hospital after experiencing a fever on Wednesday (5/8), and later tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday (6/8). Now the family he works for has been sent to a quarantine camp, and officials are also trying to contact other migrant workers he lived with for testing.
Reporting from RTHK, the Center for Health Protection (CHP) also blamed the miscommunication, because on Wednesday (5/8) it was wrong to say that 28 migrant domestic workers connected to PMI who became case number 3664 COVID-19, it has been confirmed that all of them went to their respective employers’ homes and need to be traced.
Chuang Shuk-kwan said Thursday (6/8) that only one had broken into his employer’s house, and the rest were still in the same dormitory located on the fourth floor of the Fook Gay Mansion on Lockhart Road, Wan Chai. And currently they are being prepared to take part in Covid-19 testing.
Upon further investigation, the authorities found that the PMI had been living in a third boarding house, at the Sunlight Employment Agency in On Ning Building, North Point from July 21 to 22 with about 13 other migrant domestic workers.
Chuang said the communication problem with the worker and his agent made it difficult for officials to determine his whereabouts during the incubation period, and there were certain days when they were still unsure of where they were.
“We had some language barrier, he wanted to tell us but he couldn’t tell us exactly where exactly he was traveling. That’s why we need to ask the agency to find out, and also ask for help from the police for more investigations into the exact location,” Chuang said.
Chuang said recent events demonstrated the risk of a possible mass outbreak among migrant workers, as has happened previously in Singapore, and made him concerned about the prospect of a full-blown outbreak, involving dormitory accommodation where large numbers of people live.
“In this dormitory setting, they are usually crowded, and the migrant workers share facilities that are easy to be a means of transmitting Covid-19, that’s why I think the relevant government departments need to review it and see what we can do,” Chuang explained.
The CHP reported 95 coronavirus cases overall as of Thursday, with all but four being locally transmitted infections. Of the local cases, 52 were linked to a previously confirmed infection, and 39 had no known source of transmission.
Meanwhile, the authorities confirmed that 85 eight-year-old coronavirus patients died on Thursday afternoon, bringing the Covid-19-related death toll in HK to 44.
The male patient suffers from a chronic illness and lives in the Cornwall Elderly Home in Tuen Mun, where dozens of residents and staff have come down with the virus.
