Health workers are seen in protective gear inside a locked down portion of the Jordan residential area to contain a new outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Hong Kong, China January 23, 2021. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Thousands of people living in old tenement buildings in Yau Ma Tei and Jordan were ordered to undergo coronavirus tests, after a spate of Covid cases were detected in the area, Saturday (16/1/2021).
Health Minister Sophia Chan said as of Friday afternoon (15/1), residents in 20 blocks in the area bordering Nathan Road, Jordan Road, Kansu Street and Ferry Street were affected.
Chan said these people should go to a mobile testing station at the Kwun Chung Sports Center or test in a van in the area, between Saturday and Monday.
“The area is quite crowded and the hygiene conditions are not good. There is a risk of infection. So we have decided to expand mandatory testing in an effort to break the chain of transmission of the virus as quickly as possible and achieve zero infections in the area,” Chan explained.
Chan said officers who can speak Nepali, Urdu and other languages will visit the building and offer support to people from ethnic minority communities.
Chan also encouraged other residents in the district, which are not covered by the mandatory testing order, to get tested as soon as possible.
Health authorities say more than 80 Covid infections have been recorded in Yau Tsim Mong district in the past two weeks, with the outbreak involving more than 20 residents in an old tenement building on Jalan Reklamasi.
Speaking about the RTHK program on Friday morning, Vincent Cheng of the DAB party said authorities were too slow to evacuate the building’s occupants when the first cases emerged.
Cheng said officials should consider public housing and old tenement buildings differently when conducting mandatory testing.
“Currently, residents living in public housing buildings are required to undergo mandatory testing as soon as cases are reported from two different apartments. But there are hundreds of units in a block of public housing, when there are only six or seven floors in an old tenement building. So, in my opinion, the mandatory trial threshold should be lowered there,” he said.
Meanwhile, former president of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, Vincent Ho, said faulty drainage pipes in old tenement buildings were common, and “dangerous” because they could help spread the virus.
Ho inspected the outer walls of the COVID-19-affected block on Reclamation Street and said he suspected that additional toilets had been refitted into some of the flats there.
“I saw a lot of extra pipes being extended and connected to a few more toilets. It will be a dangerous situation especially if the pipes are not connected properly,” Ho said.
