A gym in Hong Kong popular with expats has recorded 17 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among staff and customers.
Some 240 people who have visited Ursus Fitness, in Hong Kong Island's Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood have been placed in isolation at government quarantine centers, «Reuters» reported on Friday.
To prevent transmission, some banks have also been advised employees to work from home. They include HSBC, where one employee tested preliminary positive, Goldman Sachs, and BNP Paribas, where one employee tested positive, according to the report.
Cases Likely to Rise
The number of patients linked to the cluster could rise to 50, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection's Communicable Disease Branch, said at a briefing Thursday. «It is inevitable that if any of them is infected, transmission will occur, especially during exercise.»
Several other gyms, which share trainers, and nine international schools – some of which have positive cases linked to the gym among staff members – have also been closed as a precautionary measure. Authorities only permitted gyms and beauty parlors to reopen on February 18, after two months of closures.
