London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Hong Kong records its first case of new Covid-19 variant from Botswana

Hong Kong records its first case of new Covid-19 variant from Botswana

The patient, who arrived in the city from South Africa, was previously accused by authorities of increasing the chances of cross infection in quarantine by wearing a ‘selfish’ valve-style face mask.

A Covid-19 patient whose “selfish” valve-style face mask was blamed for a cross infection in a quarantine hotel last week has been found to be carrying a new variant of the virus with a high number of mutations, marking the first known appearance of the strain in Hong Kong.

The Department of Health revealed on Thursday night that a genome sequencing analysis confirmed the patient, who arrived in the city from South Africa, and another hotel guest who tested positive a few days after him, were infected with the B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant.

The new variant – which is expected to be designated “Nu”, in keeping with global naming conventions based on the Greek alphabet – was first discovered in Botswana. Apart from the two cases in Hong Kong, only nine others have been identified worldwide so far – three in Botswana, and six in South Africa.

Though the infectiousness of the new variant is still unknown, some overseas scientists suggest it could be of real concern given the “incredibly high amount of spike mutations”.

The variant has been found to have 32 spike protein mutations, compared with the 13 to 17 seen in the more prevalent Delta variant, according to some overseas research.

Generally speaking, the higher the number of mutations – which are known to help the virus evade the body’s immune response – the greater the chances of infection.

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung holds a mask with air valves, like the one worn by the arrival from South Africa. The valves, which cause the mask to block incoming air but allow potentially infectious exhaled air to leave, have been described as ‘selfish’.


Some scientists have speculated that the variant may have evolved during a chronic infection in a person with a weakened immune system.

“Scientific information on the public health significance [of] this lineage is lacking at the moment. It is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as ‘Variants Under Monitoring’,” the Department of Health said in a statement on Thursday night.

It added that the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) would closely monitor any new developments.

A source said the WHO would hold an internal meeting on Friday to discuss the new variant.

Professor Leo Poon Lit-man, head of the University of Hong Kong’s public health laboratory sciences division, said it was not yet known whether the new variant was more transmissible than others.

“The public health implications [of this variant] remain unclear,” Poon said. “It is possible that some mutations found in this variant could reduce vaccine effectiveness, but this remains uncertain.”

He said scientists from Britain had advised watching out for the variant based on abnormalities in its genetic sequencing, but the actual characteristics of the strain were not yet fully understood.

Hong Kong’s first patient found to be carrying the variant was a 36-year-old man who arrived from South Africa on November 11. He was in quarantine at the Regal Airport Hotel when he tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday last week.

A guest staying in the room across the hall – a 62-year-old arrival from Canada – tested positive five days later.

Professor Leo Poon, of the University of Hong Kong.


As a precaution, authorities ordered all guests staying in 12 other rooms on the floor to extend their isolation by 14 days, with the remainder to be served at the government’s quarantine facility at Penny’s Bay. No related cases have been detected so far.

The first patient was found to have worn a reusable mask featuring exhaust valves on multiple occasions when collecting meals and disposing of rubbish. The masks’ valves only filter air on the way in, but do not filter the air being exhaled by the wearer, prompting Hong Kong’s leading microbiologist, Yuen Kwok-yung, to label them “selfish”.

The CHP subsequently said people staying in any of the city’s designated quarantine hotels would no longer be allowed to wear valve-style masks from Thursday onwards. Guests must instead wear a surgical mask when opening the door of their room to collect meals and take out their rubbish.

The centre also updated its guidelines for hotel staff and aircrew to remind guests and passengers not to use the valve-style masks.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
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
×