Hong Kong confirms two cases of new coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa

The health authorities of Hong Kong found this Wednesday two cases of the new coronavirus variant B.1.1.529, discovered for the first time in South Africa, in one of the airport hotels of the former British colony, today local media pick up.

The Hong Kong Center for Health Protection stated, following a sequencing of the virus by the University of Hong Kong, that it corresponded to the variant B.1.1.529, which was introduced into the city through a 36-year-old man of Indian nationality who traveled to Hong Kong from South Africa on November 11 and tested positive during his quarantine.

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The second case was detected in a 62-year-old Canadian man quarantining in the room directly across from the Indian traveler.

Hong Kong health authorities blamed the 36-year-old man’s use of a mask with a valve, which would not have prevented contagion between the two men and which, therefore, has already been banned in quarantine hotels.

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Twelve guests in rooms adjoining those of the infected have already been transferred to quarantine centers, the Hong Kong newspaper The Standard reported.

Cases were detected when Hong Kong prepares to reopen its border with mainland China.

Hong Kong “It already meets the requirements” to be able to resume “travel without quarantine” to and from the mainland of China, said the main secretary of the Hong Kong Administration, John Lee Ka-chiu, quoted today by the China Daily.

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The secretary explained that Hong Kong will implement a system of “health QR codes”, similar to the one that exists in the China mainland to track coronavirus cases, one of the long-standing requirements of Beijing to reopen the border.

Lee made the remarks after a meeting with continental authorities and experts that he described as “positive” and held yesterday in Shenzhen, a southern Chinese city on the border with Hong Kong.

This week, a team of experts sent by Beijing visited Hong Kong to study the pandemic control system in place in the city, which they described as “effective,” according to Lee.

Although Lee did not mention dates on the reopening of the border, the Hong Kong media South China Morning Post recently predicted that it would happen next December, although only 1,000 people will be allowed to cross each day from Hong Kong to mainland China.

In addition, according to the Post, business travelers and for humanitarian reasons will have priority.

China, which maintains a zero tolerance policy against the coronavirus, has applied, since March 2020, strict border controls that include a ban on tourists and a mandatory quarantine of at least 14 days in a hotel paid for by the traveler.

Hong Kong, where entries are also highly restricted and subject to long quarantines, is another of the few territories in the world that maintains the goal of zero covid, after countries such as Australia or Singapore changed their strategy in recent months.

The head of the Hong Kong Executive, Carrie Lam, has stated on several occasions that the reopening of the border with mainland China was a “priority” for the city, which has registered 12,417 cases and 213 deaths among its population since the beginning of the pandemic, 7.4 million inhabitants.

For its part, the Chinese mainland, since the beginning of the pandemic, has reported 98,583 cases and 4,636 deaths. EFE

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Deshawn