Prince of Wales Hospital announces patient care assistant tests preliminarily positive for COVID-19

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) made the following announcement today (January 22) regarding a patient care assistant (PCA) who has tested preliminarily positive for COVID-19:
 
     A PCA of the hospital Staff Clinic developed a fever on January 20 and attended the Staff Clinic on the next day (January 21). She was arranged to undergo a deep throat saliva test, and the preliminarily test result available on the same day was positive for COVID-19. She has been arranged for admission to the Community Treatment Facility.
 
     Upon learning of the test result, the hospital infection control team conducted contact tracing. It was noted that the last duty day of the PCA was January 20. She had been wearing appropriate personal protective equipment during work and no patient was identified as a close contact. Three staff members with whom she had meals together were identified as close contacts and they will be quarantined. It was also understood that the PCA had attended a staff training at Shatin Hospital on January 19 and all training participants had been wearing surgical masks. As a precautionary measure, the hospital will arrange COVID-19 tests for other participants of the training and for staff working at the Staff Clinic.
 
     The Staff Clinic was temporarily closed for thorough cleaning and disinfection this morning. Clinic staff had contacted the patients to cancel their appointments. The hospital will continue to closely monitor the health condition of staff and patients, and communicate with the Centre for Health Protection on the latest progress.