Locked up in Hong Kong Covid prison: Brit who tested positive is still held two weeks later

A Briton who tested positive for Covid-19 after flying to Hong Kong is still being held in a hospital room two weeks later under a strict daily timetable – and has no idea when he will be released. 

Darryl Chan, 29, was confined in a hospital isolation ward with other travellers after testing positive for Omicron in a preliminary screening when he arrived from London on December 19. 

He has been confined for 24 hours a day with no fresh air or outdoors time and put on a strict timetable including being woken up at 8am with a musical jingle over the PA system and given meals at three fixed times each day.  

Under Hong Kong’s draconian zero-Covid policy, positive arrivals must quarantine in hospital until they test negative two days in a row, 24 hours apart. 

But Chan, who tested negative before his flight from London and has been fully vaccinated, including a booster jab, has continued to test positive meaning he remains locked in isolation indefinitely.

Even when he tests negative, the city-state’s restrictions mean Chan will be transferred to one of the government’s isolation facilities, where he must complete a further 14 days in quarantine. 

It comes as reports emerge China has begun to see food shortages and dangerous delays in accessing medical care as a result of their zero-Covid strategy, which enforces huge city-wide lockdowns amid fears of the spread of the Omicron variant. 

This week it was reported that residents in the Chinese cities of Xi’an and Yuzhou were facing food shortages after they were placed under a strict lockdown for nearly two weeks.

Hospitals in the cities’ have also seen delays in admitting patients as a negative test is required before entry, according to local media.   

Chan, who was moving to Hong Kong to start a new job, told MailOnline the patients are woken up at 8am every morning with a little pre-recorded musical jingle over the PA system.

Patients are then asked in an announcement to record their blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, heart rate and body temperature – and must do the same again at 5pm. 

Most patients then undergo daily PCR tests which are usually carried out by the hospital staff around 8.30am followed by breakfast at around 9am, lunch at noon and dinner at 6pm before lights out at 10pm. 

‘When you first arrive in the hospital, you are given the opportunity to list your dietary requirements. Food is nutritious but pretty basic – think, airplane food,’ Chan said.  

‘Being in Hong Kong, the dishes are predominantly Chinese – they pretty much always consist of rice, meat in a thick sauce and some steamed or stir-fried vegetables on the side.’ 

He explained patients are allowed to order Deliveroo at their own expense but that options are limited and stringent security measures mean there is usually a delay of at least 45 minutes in between the items arriving at the main entrance and being delivered to the room. 

Friends and family are permitted to drop-off items but deliveries are limited to two 30-minutes slots per day and only ‘daily necessities’ are permitted meaning patients cannot have deliveries of perishable foods, alcohol or cigarettes.     

Chan said he underwent ‘X-rays, blood tests and ECGs on alternate days four or five times in my first ten days here’ so medics could monitor the impact of Covid. 

Doctors, he explained, came to the ward dressed in ‘full PPE head-to-toe’ with mobile machines to carry out the tests, which stopped once medics are ‘happy that there [was] nothing of concern’.   

Patients take daily PCR tests with doctors and have a daily consultation usually over a WhatsApp call through a tablet on the ward.  

‘On this call we’re asked if we have any physical symptoms and we’re told our CT (cycle threshold) value from the previous day’s PCR test,’ Chan said, adding that he has been told to drink more water.

He explained doctors are unable to give too much information on their condition but can offer basic medication such as cough syrup to alleviate discomfort.

‘Otherwise it’s just a waiting game’, he said.

Chan has used the time to check his emails, catch up with friends on social media and watch Netflix, but admits he gets lonely in the early afternoon and is worried about the longterm effect on his mental health. 

The 29-year-old Briton first received a ‘preliminary positive’ result during Covid screening for inbound passengers at Hong Kong airport’s Terminal 2. 

‘I was off the plane and tested within the hour and then sat in a holding area where everybody is assigned a seat number and are socially distanced. It was like an exam hall,’ Chan told MailOnline. 

Chan said: ‘You’re told that results can take two to four hours and everybody who tests negative is then allowed to leave the terminal, go to baggage reclaim and then go to their pre-booked hotels where they complete their 21-day quarantine. 

‘I first knew something was wrong when, two hours after doing the test, I received a message on WhatsApp from the Hong Kong Department of Health informing me that my result had come back as “inconclusive”, meaning that they had to run it again.’

Chan said he waited another three hours before a health official came to tell him the second test had returned a ‘preliminary positive’ result and led him away to a cordoned-off area in the terminal where they’d set up individual cubicles behind screens.

‘Each cubicle was numbered and had a chair and a makeshift bed. I was assigned a number and told to wait for an ambulance to take me to a hospital for further tests,’ he said. 

He was initially placed in a ward on his own until doctors could identify which strain of Covid he was infected with. Once test results showed he had the Omicron variant he was moved to a shared wards with patients who had the same strain.   

‘My ward has been full for the past week or so, there are now six of us sharing the room and also sharing one bathroom. Each of our cubicles measure around 2.5m x 2.5m and are curtained off, but there’s not a lot of privacy.’ 

In the latest crackdown on rising Covid cases, Hong Kong today announced a two-week ban on flights from the UK and seven other countries. 

The two-week ban on passenger flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the United States will take effect on Sunday and continue until January 21.  

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam also announced that restaurant dining will be forbidden after 6pm for two weeks starting on Friday. Game arcades, bars and beauty salons must also close during that period.

‘We have to contain the pandemic to ensure that there will not be a major outbreak in the community again,’ Ms Lam said at a news conference, adding that the city is ‘on the verge’ of another surge. 

The measures came as new Omicron clusters have emerged over the past week, many linked to several Cathay Pacific crew members who broke isolation rules and dined at restaurants and bars in the city before testing positive.

Hong Kong has reported 114 Omicron variant cases as of Tuesday, with most being imported.

On Tuesday, it reported its first untraceable case in nearly three months, which authorities said was likely caused by the Omicron variant.

Hong Kong officials have moved swiftly to block the spread of the variant, locking down residential buildings where people have tested positive and mass-testing thousands of people.

That includes about 2,500 passengers who were being held on Wednesday on a cruise ship in Hong Kong for coronavirus tests, after health authorities said nine passengers were linked to an Omicron cluster.

Authorities forced the Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum Of The Seas ship, which departed on Sunday on a ‘cruise to nowhere’, to return a day early on Wednesday.

The ship returned to Hong Kong on Wednesday morning and passengers were being held on board while they awaited testing.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement that the nine guests were immediately isolated and all tested negative, and that the company was working closely with authorities to comply with epidemic prevention policies and regulations.

It said guests who were on the affected ship would receive a 25 per cent refund on their cruise fare. The ship’s next sailing on Thursday was also cancelled because the crew must undergo testing, and those guests will receive a full refund.

The city has reported a total of 12,690 confirmed coronavirus infections as of Tuesday, including 213 deaths.