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Thursday, March 26, 2020, 18:16
HK reports 43 new infections; tally touches 453
By Shadow Li & He Shusi
Thursday, March 26, 2020, 18:16 By Shadow Li & He Shusi

People wearing face masks cross a traffic junction in downtown Hong Kong, March 26, 2020. (VINCENT YU / AP)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong recorded 43 new novel coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking the city’s tally to 453. 

Speaking at the government’s daily press briefing on the epidemic, Undersecretary for Food and Health Chui Tak-yi renewed the call to maintain social distancing and urged the public not to drop its guard.

Undersecretary for Food and Health Chui Tak-yi renewed the call to maintain social distancing and urged the public not to drop its guard

The city has recorded 245 infections since March 20, with 35 cases on an average daily. The tally has ballooned to 4.5 times the total of March 2, when only 100 cases had been reported.

Eighteen men and 25 women aged between 18 and 78 were found to be infected. Twenty-nine of them, including 10 students, had traveled overseas during the incubation period. Of the other 14 without any travel history, 12 were linked to nightclub hub Lan Kwai Fong as well as Tsim Sha Tsui. Of the 14, three were employees of bars, and four were members of bands that performed at those bars. Another five who visited had bars in Lan Kwai Fong and Tsim Sha Tsui also contracted the virus.

ALSO READ: Ban on crowds urged as HK virus cases hit 410

Sixteen out of 120 people from nine bands operated by one pub management company have been confirmed infected.

In another developing cluster, all but one of a six-member company have so far been confirmed infected with the coronavirus.

Also speaking at the press conference was Hospital Authority Chief Manager (Patient Safety and Risk Management) Sara Ho said four more patients had been discharged from hospitals, taking the total number of recovered people to 110.

Of the 1,012 isolation beds in the city, 57 percent are occupied, health authorities said.

Ho urged those sent to under triage testing centers, which will be set up outside hospitals’ emergency rooms this week in phases, to stay put. Basic food and drinks will be provided, and no takeout is allowed in the waiting tents, she said.

The government said that 54 alleged violators of home-quarantine orders have been sent to quarantine camps. Law enforcement agencies are collecting evidence to prosecute them.

Chui urged those who had returned to Hong Kong before March 19, when the order for all arrivals from overseas to be home-quarantined came into effect, to voluntarily confine themselves to their homes for 14 days for the sake of society.


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