Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung is meeting press at 12.45am with CHP Director Dr Wong Ka-hing and deputy secretary for environment Tse Chi-wan.
Prof KY Yuen: Residents of block 7 of Hong Mei House in Cheung Hong Estate were evacuated tonight. The situation at the moment doesn't look like Amoy Garden in 2003 at all, because the U-shaped pipe's design is not problematic.
The evacuation was triggered by a leak found on the vent pipe that connects to the sewage pipe in the building. The leak exists in the toilet of a flat resided by a newly confirmed #nCoV2019 patient. She lives downstairs to patient no.12. Their confirmations are 10 days apart.
The units, both in block 7, resided by the two patients are about 10 floors apart said Prof KY Yuen. But the leak means that when the newer patient turned on the exhaust fan in her toilet, air in the sewage pipe (which links to the earlier case's flat) can go into the toilet.
Prof KY Yuen said it would be safest for all residents in block 7 to be evacuated immediately tonight because they couldn't finish inspecting all flats in the block tonight and they were no expert of pipes. Housing authority would sent engineers to examine all flats.
Residents of block 7 of Hong Mei House are sent to 4 quarantine camps and have to stay there until their flats are examined and cleared, and they themselves do not show any symptom. They will be sent to hospital should symptoms emerge.
Dr Wong Ka-hing of CHP just confirmed that the 4th quarantine camp is the Jao Tsung-i Academy in Mei Foo. They could not estimate how many days the pipe inspection will take and residents of Hong Mei will have to stay in camps.
The newly confirmed case is the 42nd confirmed case of Hong Kong, which means tonight the city confirmed 4 more cases.
She is 62yo, started coughing on 2/3 and was hospitalised on 2/9. She spent two days in Macau on 1/18-19. Her son and daughter-in-law are also hospitalised.
Hong Mei House is a Trident 2(Y2) public housing building and below is a standard floor plan for this type. These buildings usually have 35 storeys and each floor has 24 units, with 8 on each wing.
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