Ruttonjee & Tang Shiu Kin Hospitals announces a patient preliminarily confirmed positive to COVID-19

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson of Ruttonjee & Tang Shiu Kin Hospitals made the following announcement today (December 7) regarding an inpatient preliminarily confirmed positive to COVID-19:
         
     A 72-year-old female was admitted to a surgical ward of Ruttonee Hospital on December 6 for CT Scan. The hospital arranged COVID-19 admission screening for her and the test result was preliminarily positive. The patient was transferred to isolation ward immediately and she is currently in stable condition.
         
     The hospital's infection control team conducted contact tracing and identified a total of three other patients who stayed in the same cubicle of the ward with the confirmed patient. They are classified as close contacts and will be quarantined for 14 days and medical surveillance for 14 days. Repeated viral tests have been performed. All staff members working in the ward concerned were equipped with appropriate personal protective equipment in accordance with infection control guidelines and no aerosol generating procedures was performed during that period. Therefore, none of the staff members is classified as close contact. A staff member who had contact with the confirmed patient while the latter was eating was classified as other contact and required medical surveillance for 28 days.
        
     The hospital completed thorough cleansing and disinfection of the areas in the ward concerned. The hospital would continue to closely monitor the health of our staff and patients and communicate with the Centre for Health Protection about the latest situation.