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HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – A coronavirus outbreak at a Hong Kong gym has spread to international schools and other gyms, while positive cases also appeared in the banking community just as the city was emerging from a protracted round of social restrictions and closures. of places.
The outbreak is related to a 27-year-old trainer at Ursus Fitness, a gym in the Sai Ying Pun neighborhood of Hong Kong Island popular with expats. The gym said five of its employees also tested positive for Covid-19, as well as one customer.
Hundreds of close contacts have been sent to mandatory quarantine in government facilities, including gym members, students and school teachers. Employees of some banks were advised to work from home.
At least three schools have been closed, just weeks after the government allowed face-to-face teaching to resume for the first time since late November.
Kennedy School, which belongs to the English Schools Foundation group of international schools, said in an email to parents on Thursday (March 11) that it would be closing its campus due to a positive Covid case related to Ursus Fitness.
Kellett School and French International School also said they closed campuses due to positive cases, but did not say if they were linked to the gym.
A BNP Paribas spokesperson said one of the bank’s Hong Kong employees tested positive and that employees who sat near the person will work from home for 14 days.
The new group is another blow to a city that has suffered multiple waves of the virus. Venues ranging from gyms to hair salons were only able to reopen on February 18, after being closed for more than two months. Others, including bars and beaches, remain closed.
With daily new cases in the low double digits or below for weeks, banks and other finance companies had gradually relaxed work-from-home policies as social distancing rules were relaxed.
Some increased the percentage of employees allowed to return to the offices, while others used a divided team approach.
The number of infections in Hong Kong is low, 11,128 in total, but the city’s quarantine measures are among the strictest in the world.
Close contacts of positive cases are required to enter the centralized surveillance facility for two weeks, while residents entering from outside of China are required to spend 21 days in designated hotels.
Meanwhile, fewer residents are receiving the Sinovac Biotech coronavirus vaccine following reports of side effects. The number of people who received their scheduled vaccinations at community vaccination centers dropped to 72 percent on Wednesday from more than 90 percent last week.
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