Despite Covid Cluster, Shoppers Gather at Mall

A lot of people waited for K11 Musea to reopen yesterday

 

An upscale shopping mall in Hong Kong was the site of the latest cluster of coronavirus cases with 50 infections linked to a restaurant over the past month.

K11 Musea in Tsim Sha Tsui opened over a year ago by New World Development and it features high-end shops or boutiques with added services, as well as a cinema, the Museum of Modern Art in New York has a gift shop in there, and trendy cafes and restaurants.

Shoppers were lured by e-coupons at the mall

However, it recently became the centre of over four dozen coronavirus cases which apparently started with a cleaner who worked at Mr Ming's Chinese Dining. 

Within two days in mid February, dozens of people were infected, and there were also cases in Cartier, and a cookie shop, as well as in the toilets. It is believed an asymptomatic person spread the virus in the toilet even... 

In both cases experts believe their viral loads were so high that they were not contained by them wearing their masks.

The mall took a while to react to the news, as if in denial and then finally last week decided to close for two days for disinfection, which soon extended to a week.

Adrian Cheng Chi-kong the scion heading of New World Development released a video showing off disinfecting robots wandering the mall to clean it in a bid to mitigate fears.

The mall recently had a cluster of 50 cases

But he needn't have worried because yesterday there was a massive crowd of a few hundred people waiting outside for the mall to reopen.

Pictures on social media showed around 300 people milling around and not really socially distancing -- all because the mall had some big shopping promotions by collecting e-coupons that day. Oh and three hours free parking without having to buy anything. 

It just shows there are a lot of people out there willing to risk the chance of catching Covid-19 for a good deal.

Unbelievable. 

OK there is a new Legoland store with massive interactive displays, but was it really necessary to go on the first day?