Queen Elizabeth Hospital announces four staff members tested preliminarily positive for COVID-19

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     Queen Elizabeth Hospital today (February 8) announced that some staff members are preliminarily confirmed for COVID-19 infection with details as follows:

     Four staff members, including two nurses, a patient care assistant and an administrative staff, are preliminarily confirmed for COVID-19 due to their home or community contacts.

     The hospital has conducted contact tracing and arranged thorough cleansing and disinfection.  All clinical staff members concerned were equipped with appropriate personal protective equipment during work and no patient is classified as a close contact. Since some of the abovementioned staff had been eating or chatting with other staff members without wearing masks, 19 staff members had been identified as close contacts and will be arranged to be quarantined. 

     As a precautionary measure, admission to and discharge of patients from an orthopaedics and traumatology ward and a medical ward have been suspended. The hospital had arranged testing for all patients in the ward concerned and the results were negative. The hospital will redeploy hospital beds within clusters to cope with the situation. Meanwhile, two intensive care unit wards that were suspended from admission yesterday have resumed normal operation today.

     In light of the deteriorating epidemic situation, the hospital again reminds its staff to minimise social activities including cross-family gatherings and having meals with other staff members. Staff members should also wear appropriate personal protective equipment at work.