Clear Water Bay Road nursing home closed after 16 residents and three staff confirmed with Covid

^{The Fuk Yuen Nursing Home in Tseng Lan Shue}

The Centre for Health Protection has confirmed that all 27 residents and five staff of Fuk Yuen Nursing Home in Tseng Lan Shue, Sai Kung were moved to AsiaWorld Expo for quarantine last Thursday (18/8) after cases of Covid infection were detected at the home on 14 August. A total of 19 people have been quarantined so far, including 16 Residents and three employees are suspected to be infected with the BA.5 variant strain.

The nurse who first discovered the infection went to work on 11 August and was responsible for the night shift. She had to work on all floors, including changing sheets and feeding the inmates. She had to wear a mask while working. A quick test at the home proved positive. A resident of the institution tested positive the next day, and the resident in the same room was listed as a close contact and had to be quarantined. The CHP then arranged for the whole hospital to undergo nucleic acid testing. Two more residents were found to be infected from the 16 – 17 August, and on the 18th, two more employees tested positive. All the residents and staff of the hospital were evacuated to the AWE Quarantine Centre, with 13 more residents later revealed to be infected.

The Chief Doctor of the Communicable Diseases Branch of the CHP, Dr Albert Au, said that the three infected employees were foreign workers and lived in the hospital after getting off work. It could not be ruled out that the employees could infect each other and then infect the residents. He added that this institution is not the first institution to have BA.5 infection. Currently, more than 30% of community cases involve BA.5. It is believed that the probability of infected institutional staff with BA.5 is also similar.

Au mentioned that in the past seven days, there have been 48 cases in 48 residential homes, and a total of 73 residents and 22 staff were infected with the virus. He described the increase in residential cases as expected. He said that compared with the peak of the fifth wave of the epidemic, the current vaccination rate of residents has increased significantly, reducing their risk of severe illness and death after infection. In addition, employees are tested every day, and infected residents do not need to be quarantined at the original site. The recent epidemic in residential homes is “not as bad as it was before”.