Call to allow home quarantine after actor’s hotel death
But pandemic adviser warns most flats are not suitable for isolation and it would raise risks
Elderly travellers should be allowed to isolate at home if certain conditions are met, a health expert has said, after 87-year-old veteran Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang Kong died while undergoing quarantine at a Kowloon hotel.
Tsang’s family declined to say whether he was given timely medical help at the hotel, with the actor’s daughter Musette Tsang adding the focus was on making funeral arrangements.
“There were not many things the hotel could do … there could be a lot of emergencies everyone needs to respond to,” she said after identifying her father’s body at the public mortuary in Kwai Chung. “We don’t need to make too many comments.”
The actor was found dead in his room in the Kowloon Hotel on Nathan Road on Wednesday while undergoing quarantine after a trip to Singapore. He had received three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, sources said.
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Centre for Health Protection, yesterday said the coroner’s preliminary investigation found no trace of Covid-19. She added the actor tested negative during his stay at the hotel.
The health official said personnel contracted to carry out random polymerase chain reaction tests during travellers’ third day of arrival in the city had knocked on Tsang’s door and received no answer. They then contacted hotel staff to follow up.
Tsang’s ex-wife reportedly said he had asked his family for medicine and food the day before he died. It was also reported the hotel had asked the family to obtain approval from the Department of Health to open the door to check on Tsang, despite authorities later saying prior permission was not needed in an emergency.
Chuang stressed quarantine hotels should use common sense to decide if such requests were reasonable and staff did not need to consult authorities every time.
She confirmed Tsang’s family had delivered a package to him on Tuesday night. Chuang said the actor had called reception at around 8pm to check on his delivery and he received it before 9pm, adding he had not requested any medical assistance during his stay.
Musette Tsang said she was in close contact with her father in his final few days, and they talked about his trip and food. She added that he had high blood pressure, which she considered normal at his age. “It has already happened. It is more important for our family to let it sink in and process this,” she said. “We are still discussing his funeral arrangements, but we would prefer it to be low profile.”
She also thanked the public for caring about her father.
“I hope that he delivered great performances and stories to you all, and people will remember him as being young, handsome and excellent at acting.
“He loved having fun and eating different foods. He really enjoyed his life. I hope people will remember this side of him.”
Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said he believed it was a one-off incident. “The quarantine hotel policy has been in place for at least 1½ years. This is the first time something like this has happened.”
Chui said hotels had surveillance cameras to monitor occupants but it was difficult for staff to constantly watch people due to the need to minimise infection risks and to respect privacy.
Dr Ho Pak-leung, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, noted that elderly people with pre-existing conditions could die during a medical emergency such as a heart attack or stroke if no one provided immediate help.
“If no one is able to provide medicine or dial 999 ... the victim may not be saved within the ‘golden hour’ and unfortunate events may happen,” he said on a radio show. “Whether Tsang was in this situation, the authorities can further investigate.”
If no one is able to provide medicine or dial 999 ... the victim may not be saved within the ‘golden hour’ DR HO PAK-LEUNG, HKU MICROBIOLOGIST
Ho said the government could consider allowing those with special needs to quarantine at home.
But Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a government pandemic adviser, said this should not be allowed in general.
“Home quarantine will bring variants into the community. The risk is even higher. We cannot loosen [the policy] just for convenience … The Cathay Pacific aircrew lesson must be learned,” Hui said, referring to how Omicron-carrying airline staff who were home-quarantining spread the virus at the start of the fifth wave in late December.
He said most flats were not suitable for home quarantine due to the lack of separate rooms and toilets. But if necessary it could be made possible when residential conditions allowed and if the person’s whereabouts were monitored with an electronic device.
Authorities confirmed 413 Covid-19 infections yesterday and five deaths, plus a second case of the Omicron sublineage BA.5.
Aheartthrob in the 1960s, a Bond movie villain, and a prolific award-winning actor for six decades, Kenneth Tsang Kong was as much a Hong Kong household name as a cinema and television icon. The death of the 87-year-old alone in a quarantine hotel room on Wednesday following an overseas trip has understandably shocked people far and wide. The news has compounded the sorrow of many who have suffered during the prolonged coronavirus pandemic.
The charismatic actor earned deep respect and affection among those in the entertainment industry and beyond as reflected in the outpouring of emotions and flood of tributes on social media. Following his debut in the Mandarin film Tragedy of Vendetta in 1955, Tsang went on to study architecture at the University of California Berkeley. But he found it all too boring and returned to pursue his screen career. With a repertoire of 220 films – 25 of them in a single year – dozens of television series and a hair dye TV commercial that ran for decades, the veteran made his mark in the golden age of Cantonese cinema and television entertainment.
He is also one of the few local actors to have landed memorable supporting roles in Hollywood films, including James Bond’s Die Another Day, The Replacement Killers, Rush Hour 2, Anna and The King and Memoirs of A Geisha. During the 1990s, he also filmed several Singaporean Chinese dramas, including The Teochew Family and The Unbeatables II.
For years, people tried to copy Tsang’s evergreen looks and joked about his lines in the hair dye commercial, so much so they have become part of the city’s pop culture and collective memory. He may not have been an A-list actor throughout his long career, but the supporting roles he played belied his stature in the industry. This was recognised at the Hong Kong Film Awards when he was named best supporting actor for his role in Overhead 3 (2014).
Meanwhile, questions have been raised as to whether Tsang received timely medical assistance while isolating in the hotel room. There have also been calls to allow elderly travellers with specific needs to quarantine at home. We trust such matters will be given due consideration by the coroner and the health authorities respectively.