Alfred CY Chow, a partner at Hong Kong firm Kwan & Chow, is believed to be the first lawyer in the city to have contracted COVID-19, according to a report in the Apple Daily.
Chow, 69, is one of three partners at Kwan & Chow and also the firm’s China-appointed attesting officer. He received a Bronze Bauhinia Star in 2008 in honour of his public and social services, especially his independent appellate work of immigration.
Chow’s wife, diagnosed with COVID-19 on Mar. 5, is one of five people that were confirmed to have the illness among a group of 12 tourists returning to Hong Kong from India, according to Apple Daily. Chow himself does not have recent foreign travel history, and it is thought that he caught the virus from his wife.
Kwan & Chow’s office premises were sanitized on Mar. 7. The blood samples of the firm’s other employees were tested, but all the results came back negative, and none have shown any symptoms yet. Currently, most are working from home.
Recently the U.S. law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, one of the country’s largest by revenue, closed its New York City office after a partner based there tested positive for COVID-19. Another U.S. law firm, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, closed all of its offices for at least one day after a visitor to a recent event in its Washington office later tested positive for coronavirus.
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