More infected with Covid-19 after Europe trips

With more Hong Kong residents catching Covid-19 abroad, the government is urging people to avoid all non-essential travel. Image: Shutterstock

Damon Pang reports

Health authorities reported on Friday that three more Hong Kong residents are confirmed to have caught Covid-19, including a 16-month-old boy, and all three had recently flown home from Europe.



One of the latest patients is a 67-year-old businessman who was in London from February 27 to March 8.



He told authorities that during his time in the British capital he had met an Italian, who didn’t have any symptoms of the infection. Italy has the second highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world, behind only China.



The Hong Kong man flew first class on Cathay Pacific flight CX250 to the SAR on March 8 and developed a fever two days later.



The patient, who lives in Lam Tsuen, said he had meetings with his colleagues at their North Point office before he fell sick.



Another new patient is a 30-year-old woman who was in Greece from February 10 to 26, London from February 26 to 27 and Paris from February 27 to March 5.



She went hiking with friends in Clearwater Bay on March 8 before developing a fever in the evening.



Preliminary tests also show a 61-year-old man has been infected with the new coronavirus after visiting relatives in Colorado in the US.



He was there from February 27 and March 10 and started coughing and having a sore throat before he came back to Hong Kong via Japan. He said some of his relatives in the US also felt unwell.



Meanwhile, a 16-month-old boy whose parents were diagnosed with Covid-19 this week has also been confirmed to have the virus, making him the youngest patient in Hong Kong so far. Doctors said the toddler has mild symptoms and would only need to take paracetamol.



Only one other child in the SAR, a 16-year-old, is known to have been infected so far. The teenager had been on the Diamond Princess cruise ship at the centre of a massive Covid-19 outbreak. He has since been discharged from hospital.



The new cases bring the total number of confirmed infections in Hong Kong to 134.