St. Catherine's Kindergarten added another class with students infected with the virus, and it is not ruled out that the shared facilities spread the virus

The epidemic continues to spread at St. Catherine's International Kindergarten, Rover Road, Kowloon Tong. The Centre for Health Protection announced today (25th) that another new class of the school has been infected with the virus. Symptoms appeared after class, and they were found to be positive by a rapid test in the evening of the same day. The teachers and students in the same class were all negative by a rapid test today.

A total of 8 teachers and students have been infected with the virus so far.

▼May 24 St. Catherine's International Kindergarten Outbreak▼

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St. Catherine's International Kindergarten had a teacher and a total of five students in the morning and afternoon classes infected with the virus. The Center for Health Protection has stated that it cannot rule out the infection caused by the shared classroom of the two classes, and a total of about 60 people will be suspended until Friday.

There are 19 cases reported by schools in Hong Kong today, scattered in 7 kindergartens, 8 primary schools and 4 secondary schools, of which 1 is from St. Catherine's International Kindergarten.

Ou Jiarong, chief doctor of the Infectious Diseases Division of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, said that the new cases were from students in the afternoon class who were on the same floor of the class that had the outbreak earlier and were in another class. They went to school last Monday. The symptoms were found to be positive by a rapid test in the evening, so there was no class yesterday and a report was made to the school.

He pointed out that the student has been vaccinated twice, and his family members are asymptomatic. There are 28 students in his class, and the remaining 27 students and 5 teachers were tested negative by quick tests today. Different teachers teach, so it is not recommended to suspend classes for the time being, but it needs to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. If there are new cases, it will be considered whether it is necessary to suspend classes.

6 environmental samples were negative but still believed to be spread in classrooms

The center also went to the school yesterday to collect 6 environmental samples, 3 from the countertops in the classrooms of the outbreak group yesterday, 2 from the air purifier, and 1 from the exhaust fan. Because the school is disinfected every day, or it cannot be detected.

Au Jiarong added that the assessment concluded that the outbreak of the epidemic in the school had nothing to do with the school bus, because the main cases were concentrated in the same class, and students in different classes would not ride the same school bus.

He also pointed out that there is no connection between the new case and the earlier case for the time being, and they are not on the same school bus, but the class rooms are similar, and the two classes involved did not have mixed activities, so it cannot be ruled out that it was spread through shared facilities.

As for the classroom where the epidemic broke out earlier, Ou pointed out that there were 6 cases involved, 1 from the morning class, 4 from the afternoon class, and 1 from the teacher. Symptoms, family members are not infected, and no other source can be found. As for who is the source, it is difficult to judge.

Lan Kwai Fong Hotel Shop Kau Fong and Cityplaza McDonald's Group.

(Hong Kong 01 cartography)

In terms of deaths, two more new COVID-19 patients died in Hong Kong, involving a 78-year-old and a 90-year-old man. One of them had not been vaccinated, and the other had received two injections. A total of 9,159 deaths were recorded under the fifth wave of the epidemic. The rate is 0.764%.

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