A Hongkonger, who is believed to have tested positive for the coronavirus and was waiting for hospital admission, left home for more than two hours on Thursday night, sparking a citywide police search.

Officers were called to Peace Garden in Ho Man Tin at 11.45pm when a security guard saw the woman, wearing a surgical mask, leaving the building with a man. A report was made to police immediately.

“The caller claimed the woman was suspected to be a confirmed Covid-19 patient and she was wearing a wristband while leaving the building,” a police source said.

When officers arrived, no one answered the door of the woman’s flat. Officers also scouted the locality, but could not find her. The Department of Health was then notified of the matter.

A spokesman for the building’s property management company said the woman and the man returned to the building at about 2am on Friday.

She was taken to hospital by ambulance at about 9.45am.

At about 10.30am, the woman walked into Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan, covering her head with a blue towel.

According to data posted on the Centre for Health Protection’s website, a 37-year-old woman living in the same building tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday and was waiting for hospital admission.