A customer prepares to pay for vegetables at a fresh produce market store in Hong Kong on Feb 22, 2021. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)

HONG KONG - More Hong Kong residents have become eligible for COVID-19 vaccine shots as the city recorded nine new cases on Monday.

Seven more groups of people, in addition to the first five priority groups, can sign up for Sinovac and BioNTech jabs starting Tuesday morning, Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said at a briefing.

The newly added groups, which involve around 1.3 million people in total, include restaurant, market and chain store workers, delivery riders, public transport workers, construction workers, property management workers, all school staff, tourism workers, as well as employees of entertainment venues.

The new COVID-19 cases on Monday included six infections that were locally transmitted, pushing the city’s total to 11,099

Twelve community vaccination centers will be open from March 16 for residents who want to get BioNTech jabs, adding to seven other centers that will open on Wednesday. About 140,000 slots are available from March 16 to 30. Registration starts at 9 am Tuesday.

The slots after March 30 will be released on a daily basis, with 16,000 BioNTech shots per day and 1,600 Sinovac ones per day, Nip said.

ALSO READ: HK logs 11 new COVID-19 cases, 8 local

As of Sunday, around 91,800 residents had received their first dose of the Sinovac vaccine since Feb 26 while 1,200 had been given BioNTech jabs since Saturday.

Speaking at the same briefing, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said people who were unsure about their own medical situation should consult a doctor before booking the vaccine.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung also wrote on his blog on Sunday that the government would do a “good job of vaccination monitoring and respond to social concerns to protect public health and give citizens peace of mind”.

An expert panel ruled on Monday after examining preliminary autopsy findings that the death of a 55-year-old Hong Kong woman on March 6 was not directly linked to her vaccination against COVID-19.

The chronically ill woman suffered from an acute stroke on Friday and died at Kwong Wah Hospital the next morning. She received a Sinovac shot at Kwun Chung Sports Centre Community Vaccination Centre in Jordan on Tuesday.

“The woman died of an acute heart infraction. The patient had high blood pressure and high hyperlipidemia. She has an aortic dissection, leading to a stroke,” said Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a top infectious disease expert from the University of Hong Kong, who is also a co-convener of the Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following COVID-19 Immunisation.

The woman was the second person who died in the city after vaccination. A 63-year-old man who had a severe coronary artery disease died on Feb 28, two days after his inoculation.

Also on Monday, a 71-year-old man died five days after he received a Sinovac shot at a clinic. The experts are waiting for postmortem results to ascertain the cause of his death.

Meanwhile, the new COVID-19 cases on Monday included six infections that were locally transmitted, pushing the city’s total to 11,099.

There were four untraceable cases while three imported infections came from the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines and Pakistan, the Centre for Health Protection said in a statement.

The four patients whose infection source remained unclear included a 36-year-old security guard, a 48-year-old waitress, a 41-year-old housewife and a 35-year-old project coordinator, according to the CHP.

READ MORE: HK panel finds no link between man's death and Sinovac shot

UA cinemas said in a notice on Monday morning that it would cease its business in the city with immediate effect. Its six theaters across the city had been closed.

The cinema chain, established in Hong Kong in 1985, cited “unavoidable and devastating pressure” during the pandemic. It has commenced winding up proceedings with a Hong Kong court.

With Reuters inputs