HK confirms 1 new coronavirus infection, total now 6

HONG KONG - Hong Kong on Sunday confirmed another case of a novel coronavirus infection (2019-nCoV), taking the total number of patients in the city to six.

According to the Department of Health, the 47-year-old man, a Hong Kong resident, had been working in Wuhan in Central China's Hubei province since early January. He caught a fever on Jan 20 but recovered the next day after seeking treatment at a Wuhan hospital.

The patient took the G1035 high-speed railway train to Shenzhen on Jan 23 and thereafter took the G407 bullet train to Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station.

The man had been wearing a mask throughout the journey. In Hong Kong, he found himself running a fever again on Friday. He sought treatment on Saturday and was confirmed to have the infection on Sunday.

The patient's wife and daughter have been sent to hospital for medical tests.

The department said new cases of suspected novel coronavirus infection have reached 77 in Hong Kong, while 107 people had been quarantined in the 24 hours leading to Sunday noon.

Also on Sunday, Hong Kong's Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said that locking down the city was "not feasible".

On Saturday, Hong Kong raised its response level to the novel coronavirus outbreak to "emergency" and in a press conference where the decision was announced, any suggestion to lock down the city was firmly rejected.

Chan said authorities were reviewing border control measures to bolster containment efforts, including assessing the necessity of shortening the time taken for customs clearance.

In response to a newly confirmed case in Macao, wherein the 58-year-old infected woman had travelled to the neighbouring Special Administrative Region from the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal on Thursday, Chan said authorities were trying to trace the people who had come in close contact with the woman during her journey.

Earlier on Sunday, Macao confirmed three new cases of novel coronavirus infection, including the case of the 58-year-old woman.