(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Hospital Authority today said eight patients from a United Christian Hospital ward have tested preliminary positive for COVID-19.

At a press briefing this afternoon, Hospital Authority Chief Manager (Quality & Standards) Dr Lau Ka-hin said four staff members who worked in or visited the hospital’s Palliative Care & Medical Ward have also tested preliminary positive for the virus.

Dr Lau said: “For the cluster of COVID-19 patients and staff in the Palliative Care & Medical Ward of United Christian Hospital, up to this moment, what I know is there may be a superspreader in the ward. He or she harboured a lot of the virus and shed the virus to the environment as well as other patients.

“We have asked our staff who have been confirmed positive for COVID-19, and they reported that they wore the appropriate and adequate personal protective equipment, so we are still investigating the root of the infections.”

Separately, the authority reported a Caritas Medical Centre Isolation Ward male nurse has tested preliminary positive for COVID-19. Two nurses have been classified as close contacts and will have to undergo quarantine.

A Kwong Wah Hospital female patient also tested preliminary positive for COVID-19. She was admitted to an obstetric ward in the hospital due to membrane rupture.

The patient gave birth to an infant this morning. The hospital had arranged for the infant to receive a COVID-19 test and the result was negative.