Unique SARS-CoV-2 clusters causing a large COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong

Kelvin Kai-Wang To; Wan-Mui Chan; Jonathan Daniel Ip; Allen Wing-Ho Chu; Anthony Raymond Tam; Raymond Liu; Alan Ka-Lun Wu; Kwok-Cheung Lung; Owen Tak-Yin Tsang; Daphne Pui-Ling Lau; Wing-Kin To; Mike Yat-Wah Kwan; Yat-Sun Yau; Anthony Chin-Ki Ng; Cyril Chik-Yan Yip; Kwok-Hung Chan; Herman Tse; Ivan Fan-Ngai Hung; Kwok-Yung Yuen

doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa1119

Unique SARS-CoV-2 clusters causing a large COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong

Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Aug 5;ciaa1119. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1119. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kelvin Kai-Wang To^{1

2}, Wan-Mui Chan¹, Jonathan Daniel Ip¹, Allen Wing-Ho Chu¹, Anthony Raymond Tam³, Raymond Liu⁴, Alan Ka-Lun Wu⁵, Kwok-Cheung Lung⁶, Owen Tak-Yin Tsang⁷, Daphne Pui-Ling Lau⁷, Wing-Kin To⁸, Mike Yat-Wah Kwan⁹, Yat-Sun Yau¹⁰, Anthony Chin-Ki Ng¹, Cyril Chik-Yan Yip², Kwok-Hung Chan¹, Herman Tse¹¹, Ivan Fan-Ngai Hung¹², Kwok-Yung Yuen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Carol Yu Centre for Infection, Department of Microbiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
² Department of Microbiology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
³ Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
⁴ Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Ruttonjee Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
⁵ Department of Microbiology, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
⁷ Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
⁸ Department of Pathology, Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
⁹ Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
¹⁰ Department of Paediatrics, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
¹¹ Department of Pathology, Hong Kong Children's Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
¹² Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.

Abstract

After two months of relative quiescence, a large COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Hong Kong in July 2020 after gradual relaxation of social distancing policy. Two unique SARS-CoV-2 phylogenetic clusters have been identified among locally-acquired cases, with most genomes belonging to cluster HK1 which is phylogenetically related to SARS-CoV-2 reported overseas.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; outbreak; whole genome sequencing.