The first batch of Sinovac vaccines arrives in Hong Kong from Beijing, Feb 19, 2020. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong reported 13 new COVID-19 infections, including 12 locally transmitted ones, as the much-awaited first million doses of Sinovac vaccine arrived in the financial hub from Beijing on Friday.

Welcoming the delivery at the Hong Kong International Airport at around 5:40 pm, Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, the city's secretary for the civil service, expressed gratitude to the central government for its full support and the active cooperation of Sinovac Biotech to enable Hong Kong to get the vaccine early and in a timely manner. He appealed to Hong Kong residents to receive vaccination as early as possible.

Welcoming the delivery at the Hong Kong International Airport at around 5:40 pm, Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, the city's secretary for the civil service, expressed thanks to the central government’s full support in the SAR's pandemic fight and Sinovac Biotech’s cooperation

Also speaking at the airport, health chief Sophia Chan Siu-chee described the moment as a milestone in Hong Kong’s pandemic fight, pledging efforts to implement the upcoming mass vaccination program.

"It is indeed a very important milestone for all the COVID-19 prevention and control work that we have been doing," Chan said.

The timely vaccine delivery has demonstrated the central government's caring about Hong Kong compatriots as well as the support from related mainland authorities and vaccine producers to Hong Kong's anti-coronavirus fight, said Qiu Hong, deputy head of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR.  

The vaccines - the first available in Hong Kong - will enable the city to start inoculating its residents next week.   

The inactivated vaccine was approved for emergency use by the HKSAR government on Thursday. Hong Kong has procured a total of 7.5 million doses of the vaccine.

Priority groups, including medical workers, those aged 60 and above, and cross-border truck drivers, will be given the first shots free of charge from Feb 26 in the first phase of the local mass vaccination drive. 

8 cases untraceable 

The sole imported case reported on Friday involved a 36-year-old woman who flew from Indonesia on Feb 5, Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said at a briefing.

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Eight of the new infections were untraceable, Au said, including a 41-year-old woman detained at Ma Tau Kok Immigration Detention Centre. She illegally entered Hong Kong from Vietnam in September last year and was arrested on Feb 2. Eight of her fellow detainees would be quarantined.

Three restaurant workers were among the new patients whose infection source was unknown, Au said. They are respectively employees at a branch of Ramen Kureha in Tai Hang, Royal Legend in Tin Hau and a McDonald’s at Chuang's Tower in Central.

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A 50-year-old woman, who worked at Buddhist Sum Ma Shui Ying Care and Attention Home for the Elderly in Kwun Tong, was also unlinked to previous cases, Au said. She developed symptoms on Wednesday and went to work on the same day. Fifty-two residents and 18 workers there would be quarantined, Au said.

Qiu Hong (4th left), deputy director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, Patrick Nip Tak-kuen (4th right), Hong Kong's secretary for the civil service, and Sophia Chan Siu-chee (3rd left), secretary for food and health, welcome the arrival of Sinovac vaccines at Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong, Feb 19, 2021. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Another case with an unknown source of origin involved a 14-year-old student at Caritas Lok Yi School in Shau Kei Wan. He developed early symptoms on Sunday and returned the school on Wednesday. Fifteen teachers and nine students would be quarantined, according to Au.

The new additions brought the city's overall infection tally to 10,833.

There were more than 10 preliminarily positive cases, four of which were untraceable, Au added.

The four were doctor Lam Ka-yeung who practiced at Wo Yi Plaza in Kwai Chung, a 70-year-old woman who lived in Block 6 of Jubilee Garden in Fo Tan, a 51-year-old woman who lived in Sau Mau Ping South Estate Sau Wong House, and a taxi driver whose vehicle number is TR8063.

According to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, 264 COVID-19 patients are currently being treated in public hospitals and the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo, including 18 in critical condition. 

With Xinhua inputs