(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong officials are asking thousands of residents to test themselves for Covid-19 after an examination of the sewage from their buildings found high levels of the virus, suggesting there may be hidden chains of transmission in the city even as documented infections fall.
City workers are distributing 195,000 rapid antigen test kits to residents, cleaning workers and property management staff in five areas, including the Sai Kung district known for beautiful beaches, the Kennedy Town neighborhood popular with expatriates, and Kowloon, a densely populated neighborhood across Victoria Harbor. Those testing positive should report their infections, the government said in a statement.
News of the possible threat first emerged after The University of Hong Kong’s medical school posted a warning on social media, telling students and staff to avoid Kennedy Town because of a potential Covid cluster.
Hong Kong is coming out of an omicron-driven wave that has shrouded the city since early 2022, with many residents on edge amid fears that the recent easing of restrictions could lead to a rebound in case counts. The city reported 294 new infections on Thursday, down from a peak of more than 70,000 in March.
The notice, posted to Twitter and Facebook on Thursday morning, said the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine became aware of “potentially a large Covid-19 cluster developing” in Kennedy Town, which neighbors the university. It went on to ask students and staff to refrain from visiting the vicinity for lunch or engaging in any mask-off activities for the rest of the week. The government statement flagged numerous housing estates, including one university dorm.
Early Stage
The findings are at an initial stage and there’s no detail on how big the cluster is or could grow to, said people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak publicly.
Health workers will collect more samples to further gauge the extent of the risk, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Department of Health’s communicable disease branch, during a Thursday briefing. The sudden increase in virus levels is what has people concerned, she said.
Sewage testing involves checking wastewater for signs of infection, often using material collected from multiple buildings to detect even low levels of the pathogen. The laboratory tests run on the sewage can help determine if the virus is present and at what levels.
Hong Kong has taken action based on sewage results before, ordering the entire enclave of Discovery Bay to undergo mandatory testing in February after the virus was found in samples there. Anyone who was in the neighborhood of more than 20,000 people on Lantau island for more than two hours was required to get tested.
Health authorities stopped publishing details of new cases in February after transmission became rampant in the city. As the outbreak abated, information on a restaurant cluster in the northern district of Yuen Long was released last week. It has since grown to about 20 infections.
(Adds details on Discovery Bay testing in the seventh paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected the spelling of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine in the fifth paragraph)
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