Since June 18, the city has seen six SSM staff contract the virus. Four are directly employed by the bureau and the remaining two are third-party cleaning service providers.
The four SSM workers are a NAT sample collector, a clinical nurse at the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane, an A&E nurse and a medical assistant. They are all under either hotel quarantine or medical isolation.
When asked whether health measures should be strengthened at medical facilities, the health chief Alvis Lo denied that the employees contracted the virus at their workplaces.
He emphasized that the medical staff who tested positive had contracted the virus before they started closed-loop commuting at the bureau.
Supporting his claim, the pulmonologist remarked: “if they had contracted the virus at work, there would be a chain reaction and thus an outbreak [within their workplaces].”
Previously, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak had also denied that the then single case of infection found in a police officer was work-related.
It was also announced by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) yesterday that, since June 18, five police officers have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. AL
