HONG KONG (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): A birthday party attended by more than 100 people including senior officials and politicians is causing more headaches for Hong Kong authorities already scrambling to contain at least two growing Omicron Covid-19 clusters in the city and reimpose stricter control measures.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Thursday (Jan 6) said she was "highly disappointed" that 10 officials including Home Affairs Secretary Caspar Tsui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui and Undersecretary Joseph Chan, as well as Police Commissioner Raymond Siu, had attended the banquet in Wan Chai on Monday (Jan 3).
She did not share details of the gathering, citing privacy concerns, but local reports said it was a birthday celebration for Witman Hung, the Hong Kong Deputy to the 13th National People's Congress.
A guest at the party tested positive a day after the event, when she was quarantined in Penny's Bay as a close contact of an infected family member.
Tsui, who has been identified as a close contact, will also be sent to Penny's Bay, said Lam, who added: "My colleagues apparently have not taken the advice of the Secretary for Food and Health (to avoid mass gatherings), so how could they set an example for the people of Hong Kong?"
When asked if she would apologise, Lam said every official should be accountable for his or her own actions and that it was not the duty of the Chief Executive to "take responsibility over every matter and every action of the principal officials".
Broadcaster TVB later reported that another official was said to have joined the party, bringing the total to 11.
The birthday bash adds to the woes of officials working to trace people in two Omicron clusters linked to two Cathay Pacific aircrew members even as hospitals and quarantine facilities fill up fast.
The mother of one of the aircrew members visited a Tin Hau eatery and a friend in Causeway Bay whose domestic helper then became infected.
There are fears of a possible outbreak in the church which the helper attends, after another helper who goes to the same church was found to be preliminarily positive.
The health authorities said the other cluster had also grown, with the Centre for Health Protection's Dr Chuang Shuk Kwan stressing that the coming days or week would be critical.
"We're tracing the churchgoers on Jan 1 and 2. That amounts to tens of people so we're a bit worried because they might have already spread the infections to their employers and other friends," she said.
Hong Kong's Hospital Authority (HA) has activated 500 beds at its community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo convention centre to "cope with the tsunami-like increase of confirmed cases", said HA chief executive Tony Ko on Wednesday.
The North Lantau Hospital near the airport, which has more than 800 beds, will run out of space in four or five days if it keeps receiving 40 to 50 new cases a day, Dr Ko said.
The total number of infected patients has almost doubled every week over the past four weeks, led by a surge in imported cases.
The worsening situation has led the government to tighten measures from Friday for two weeks, including shutting bars and gyms, and imposing a ban on dining at eateries after 6pm.
Hong Kong added 33 confirmed cases on Thursday, with 28 of them imported, bringing the tally to more than 12,700 and 213 deaths.
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