Pedestrians donning face masks cross a road in Central, Hong Kong, July 28, 2020. (PARKER ZHENG/CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG - Hong Kong reported 13 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, including nine imported cases, bringing the city’s overall infection tally to 5,009.
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The imported cases were from Ukraine, Argentina, India and the Philippines, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch, told a media briefing on Saturday afternoon.
Among the new cases with unknown origin was a research assistant working for the University of Hong Kong who had to deal with samples of inactivated and non-infectious COVID-19 virus to conduct genetic sequencing
Among the local cases, one was related to previously confirmed cases, and the infection sources of the other three remained unknown. One of the cases of unknown origin involved a woman working for the University of Hong Kong as a laboratory research assistant. She had to deal with samples of inactivated and non-infectious COVID-19 virus for genetic sequencing.
It is not yet known where the research assistant contracted the disease and the university has carried out environmental sampling in the surrounding areas for further investigation, Chuang said.
The remaining two untraceable cases involved a 23-year-old Filipino maid who lived in Ma On Shan and a 79-year-old retiree who resided in Tuen Mun, Chuang said.
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There were more than 10 preliminary positive cases, with most of them imported, Chuang added.
A total of 158 patients remained hospitalised, 13 of them in critical condition, according to the Hospital Authority.
The total number of deaths related to COVID-19 stood at 103.
With Xinhua inputs
