HONG KONG • A Covid-19 outbreak at a Hong Kong gym has spread to international schools and fitness centres, while cases also appeared in the banking community just as the city was emerging from a prolonged round of social restrictions and venue closures.
The flare-up is linked to a 27-year-old trainer from Ursus Fitness, a gym in Sai Ying Pun, a neighbourhood popular with expatriates. The gym said five of its staff and a client also tested positive.
Hundreds of close contacts, including gym members, students and teachers, are in mandatory quarantine in government facilities.
At least three schools have been closed, just weeks after the government allowed in-person teaching to resume for the first time since late November.
Kennedy School, one of the city's international schools, said it would close its campus due to an infection connected to Ursus Fitness. Kellett School and the French International School also closed campuses due to positive cases.
Meanwhile, employees at some banks were advised to work from home. A BNP Paribas spokesman said one of the bank's Hong Kong employees tested positive and that those who sat near the person will work from home for 14 days.
The new cluster is another blow to a city that has endured multiple waves of the virus. Venues ranging from gyms to beauty parlours were allowed to reopen only on Feb 18, after being closed for more than two months. Others, including bars and beaches, remain closed.
With new daily cases in the low double-digits or fewer for weeks, companies had gradually eased work-from-home policies as social distancing rules were relaxed.
The number of infections in Hong Kong is still low, totalling about 11,000, but the city's quarantine measures are among the world's strictest. Close contacts of positive cases have to enter centralised surveillance facilities for two weeks, while residents entering from outside of China must spend 21 days in designated hotels.
Meanwhile, fewer Hong Kong residents are showing up to get vaccines from Chinese maker Sinovac Biotech amid reports of side effects, even as demand was strong for Pfizer-BioNTech's shots on the day of their debut.
The percentage of people who had their scheduled Sinovac shots at community vaccination centres fell to 72 per cent on Wednesday, down from a high of more than 90 per cent last week.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was given to 91 per cent of those who signed up to get it on Wednesday, the first day it was available.
The skipping of Sinovac vaccine appointments comes after the city reported three deaths and three critical illnesses among the over 130,000 people inoculated to date.
While none has been linked to the Sinovac vaccine, hesitancy around getting the shots has risen among residents.
The authorities preliminarily ruled out a tie between the vaccines and the first two deaths and two critical cases, while they are still analysing the more recent reports.
BLOOMBERG
