Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor meets with members of the media at the Central Government Offices, Tamar. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong reported a record of 164 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday as the government announced that the quarantine requirement for incoming travelers will be shortened while in-person classes will remain suspended until Feb 21.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in a press briefing that the current 21-day quarantine requirement will be shortened to 14 days plus seven days of self-monitoring starting from Feb 5.

Lam said citywide restrictions will be extended until Feb 17, from a previous date of Feb 4. Schools will not resume face-to-face classes until Feb 21

Lam said the shortened quarantine for arrivals should be enough to detect Omicron cases, which have an incubation period of four to five days. She also noted that government quarantine centers were already implementing the new timetable.

"It would look very illogical and inconsistent to continue to put arrivals on 21-day hotel quarantine. This is really a matter of consistency and application based entirely on science," Lam said.

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Lam also said that citywide restrictions will be extended until Feb 17, from a previous date of Feb 4. 

In a statement, the Education Bureau said that, since the epidemic situation is still severe, the suspension of all face-to-face classes  in kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools and tutorial schools will be extended until Feb 21.

"During the period of face-to-face class suspension, schools will flexibly deploy various teaching modes to sustain students' learning at home,” an EDB spokesman was quoted as saying in the statement.

Lam said the city needs to raise its vaccination rate to around 90 percent from 70 percent currently before authorities can consider adapting quarantine policies for incoming travelers.

"I cannot stand seeing a lot of people dying in my hospitals so we will try our best to raise our vaccination rate," she said.

Government staff members set up a restricted area at Choi Wan (I) Estate Cheung Bor House on Jan 27, 2022. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

In a separate press briefing, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said the new cases on Thursday included 116 local infections while around 100 patients tested preliminarily positive.  

There were 12 untraceable local cases involving two retirees; five students, including two attending online classes; a foreman of the Highways Department; clerical staff members, a security officer, and foreign domestic workers, she added. 

Edwin Tsui Lok-kin, Controller of the CHP, said the city had more than 30 untraceable infections.

“Despite our tracing efforts, more than 30 cases are untraceable. It shows that, in the community, there are at least a score of silent transmissions chains,” he said.

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"Currently, the infection risk in the community is extremely high. We have two variant strains - that is Omicron and Delta,” he added. 

Tsui said Omicron is extremely infectious, especially among household members. 

“In Hong Kong, we have seen a lot of cases that household members would be infected if anyone in the family is infected,” he said. 

“During the Chinese New Year holidays, please avoid cross-family social gatherings. At this extraordinary period, please work together with us to put the epidemic under control,” he added.

Restricted Areas

On Thursday night, the government set up a restricted area at Block C , New Kwai Fong Gardens, 12-20 Kwai Yi Road, Kwai Fong and at On Shun Building, 15-31 Shung Yan Street, Kwun Tong for testing after each building had a resident who tested preliminarily positive for a COVID-19 mutant strain.

At 10 pm, Block 1 and Block 2 of Hsin Kuang Centre, 120 Lung Cheung Road, Wong Tai Sin were cordoned off after sewage samples from the building tested positive for the virus.

“As the sewage discharged from the above building was tested positive, it is suspected that there are asymptomatic patients in the building,” a government spokesman said.

Also in Wong Tai Sin, 22 residents and a security guard at Cheung Bor House, Choi Wan (I) Estate have tested positive or preliminarily positive, the CHP said. 

The patients live in 16 different units, including four "07" units, three "11" units and four units on the 16th floor. It is suspected that vertical and horizontal transmissions of virus were involved.

The CHP said it will arrange for residents of "07" units and "11" units on all floors and those reside in "02" to "07" units on the 16th floor to undergo quarantine at a quarantine centre. 

Those on the 27th and 28th floors living in the same units as those with cases in the lower floors and all security guards in the building will also be quarantined.

With inputs from Reuters