- Mainland Chinese passenger travelled to city by high-speed rail, having earlier been to Wuhan
- Tests conducted at Queen Elizabeth Hospital before patient was moved to Hospital Authority Infectious Disease Centre in Princess Margaret Hospital.
A mainland Chinese tourist has become Hong Kong's first infected case of the new coronavirus, sources told the Post on Wednesday.
The man arrived in Hong Kong on a high-speed train on Tuesday night and is a citizen of the city at the epicentre of the outbreak, Wuhan. He was found to have a fever on his arrival at the rail terminus in West Kowloon. He tested positive to the virus in two tests at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Jordan, while a third was still ongoing.
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Television footage showed the man, wearing a mask, was taken from Queen Elizabeth to Princess Margaret Hospital, where the Hospital Authority Infectious Disease Centre is located. He was on a stretcher pushed by several healthcare workers in full protective gear.
A hospital source said the man also had a runny nose, but did not have symptoms of pneumonia.
The MTR Corp said it was notified by the Department of Health's port health officers that a male passenger took high-speed rail train G5607, from Shenzhen North station to West Kowloon Station.
The MTR said the train in question had already taken a new batch of passengers and left West Kowloon station before it was notified by Hong Kong's port health officers. The MTR Corp had immediately notified relevant units on the mainland to clean and disinfect the seat in the carriage where the man sat, as well as spaces nearby.
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Health minister Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee will announce further details tonight at 7.30pm.
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