HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported one new imported COVID-19 case on Friday, bringing the city’s tally to 11,957.
The new case involved a 40-year-old woman flying in from the United Arab Emirates, said the Centre for Health Protection of Hong Kong’s Department of Health. She remained asymptomatic.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Health Protection said it was investigating a "re-positive" case involving a sea crew member who flew to Hong Kong from India on Tuesday
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The center said it is also investigating a “re-positive” case involving a 32-year-old sea crew member who flew to Hong Kong from India on Tuesday. He tested negative upon arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport but the result of his second test conducted on Wednesday came back positive.
The center said the man was found to have been infected with the virus in India in May. He remained asymptomatic and stayed in a cargo vessel all along after arrival. He has not been vaccinated but he tested positive for antibodies.
As a prudent measure, his workplace –the vessel Maersk Lima at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals–will be included in a compulsory testing notice, the center said. All sea crew members on the vessel will be quarantined on board for three weeks, it added.
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As of Thursday, more than 2.73 million people in Hong Kong have received at least the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while around 1.9 million people who have been fully vaccinated.
More than half of the city’s 180,000 civil servants have received at least the first vaccine dose, Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said on social media.
In another development, a 78-year-old man was sentenced to one day in jail on Friday for violating a mandatory quarantine order. The Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts heard that the man left his home on Dec 22 last year before finishing a two-week period of home quarantine.
He was the 159th person in the city to be convicted of violating quarantine rules.