London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025

HK reports 15 mutant virus cases in two weeks

HK reports 15 mutant virus cases in two weeks

Health officials say the quarantine rules are enough to identify all coronavirus infections coming from overseas

A total of 15 people in Hong Kong have been found to have the mutant coronavirus originating in the UK, which is thought to be 70% more infectious than the original strain that swept through the world.

Laboratories at the Health Department and the Polytechnic University discovered the mutated virus in samples from five infected people who came to Hong Kong from the UK, the Philippines and France from December 13 on.

One person, identified only as patient No 9003, arrived in Hong Kong from the Philippines on flight PR300 on December 22. Another, identified as patient No 9006, came to Hong Kong from France via Amsterdam last Saturday. Both tested positive on Monday.

“As the mutated virus has been spread to many other countries since it was first discovered in the UK in September, it is within our expectation that some travelers coming from France and the Philippines were infected with the variant,” Chuang Shuk-kwan, the head of the communicable diseases branch at the Center for Health Protection, said at a media briefing on Tuesday.

She said the current rules that require all incoming travelers, except those from China, to quarantine in designated hotels for 21 days should allow authorities to identify all imported cases.

After the mutated coronavirus was identified in London, Hong Kong suspended all flights carrying travelers from the United Kingdom from December 22. People who had stayed in the UK for more than two hours within the past two weeks were not allowed to board flights to Hong Kong.

Stuck in the UK


Health officials also retested dozens of people who had visited the UK in early December.

Hong Kong’s Immigration Department said it had already received inquiries for assistance from 210 Hong Kong people who wanted to come home, but were stuck in the UK.

The decision to ban people from flying to Hong Kong from the UK was difficult but necessary, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in a media briefing on Tuesday before the weekly Executive Council meeting.

“We do have a lot of returnees from the United Kingdom accounting for about one-third of arrivals at Hong Kong international airport. If we did nothing, it would be putting our city at great risk,” Lam said.

“We have to take this measure, which was very difficult, because it involves Hong Kong residents, and many of them are students or parents who have gone to visit the students and they need to come back.”

Lam said as the coronavirus situation globally was severe and the restrictions had to be “watertight,” otherwise Hong Kong would be at risk.

The UK has seen an alarming surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks as public health officials struggle to control the spread of a new variant of Covid-19 that is more contagious than previous variants.

The Center for Health Protection said a total of 32 cases were recorded in Hong Kong on Monday, the lowest since November 21. They included one imported case and 31 local infections. Nine local people who were infected had no known sources. More than 20 people tested positive preliminarily on Tuesday.

New Year Fair in doubt


One of those with an untraceable source of infection was a nurse who works at two private clinics in Mong Kok and Ho Man Tin. She was employed as a receptionist and did not take off her mask while working and ate her meals alone. There were no close contacts from the clinics.

Another newly confirmed case was a worker at a home for people with disabilities in Tsing Yi. Two residents are now being quarantined, while all the other residents and staff are to be tested for the virus.

If the government had the determination to achieve “zero infections” by mid-February, the Chinese New Year Fair should be canceled, Ho Pak-leung, head of the University of Hong Kong’s Center for Infection, told RTHK.

Although the number of infections continued to decline, a V-shaped rebound could happen if there are more outbreaks in hospitals and elderly care homes, Ho said.

Sophia Chan, the Secretary for Food and Health, said the government had yet to assess if the traditional Chinese New Year fairs would be held this year, but she said such large-scale events should be avoided.

In order to cut off all virus transmission chains, the government would deploy a lot more staff to trace the origins of the virus and consider extending mandatory tests to the second-tier close contacts of the infected people, Chan said.
Commenting on whether the government would forbid family gatherings at home, Chan said it would be considered if the number of infections rebounded. She said for the moment the government hoped that people would take the initiative and stop all cross-family gatherings.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
×