North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre announces the isolation arrangement of an imported case
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Regarding the isolation arrangement of an imported case in North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre (HKICC), the spokesperson for the Kowloon West Cluster made the following announcement today (March 28) :
A 45-year-old female patient, tested preliminarily positive for COVID-19, was admitted to HKICC on March 26. Since the patient concerned is an imported case, single isolation was arranged while she was waiting for the results of confirmation and mutation test, according to prevailing practice.
After she was confirmed as a positive case, the patient concerned was transferred to a cubicle, which had accommodated some other confirmed patients, for further treatment. Some 20 minutes later, healthcare staff found that the mutation test result of the patient concerned was still pending. She was thus immediately transferred to another cubicle for single isolation. HKICC was informed that the patient concerned was tested positive to N501Y mutation on March 27 morning.
The patient concerned had never left her bed nor contacted the other four patients during her 20-minute stay in the cohort cubicle. The beds were also separated from each other by curtains. Hence, the risk of infection is considered to be very low. All of the five patients are in stable condition.
HKICC is very concerned about the incident and has explained and extended apologies to the patients concerned. As precautionary measures, single isolation and mutation tests have been arranged for the four patients. HKICC will continue to closely monitor the condition of patients concerned and communicate with the Centre for Health Protection on the latest situation and patients' follow-up arrangement. Thorough cleansing and disinfection have been arranged for the cubicles concerned according to established guidelines.
HKICC has notified the Hospital Authority Head Office the above incident through the Advance Incident Reporting System. Indepth review on the admission workflow and isolation arrangement will also be conducted to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Ends/Sunday, March 28, 2021
Issued at HKT 20:14
Issued at HKT 20:14
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