People walk past stalls selling fruits and vegetables at a market in Hong Kong on April 19, 2022. (PETER PARKS / AFP)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong reported 574 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the infection tally in the city's fifth wave of COVID-19 to 1,188,277.

Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said in a press briefing that the new cases comprised 563 local infections and 11 imported cases. 

Albert Au of the Centre for Health Protection warned that the number of infections may rise as the government relaxed social distancing measures Thursday, including allowing dine-in services at restaurants until 10 pm

Au said 290 were confirmed through nucleic acid tests and 284 by rapid antigen tests. It is the first time since Feb 6 for the city's daily infection count to fall below 600.

The 11 imported cases involved one foreign domestic helper from Indonesia and 10 travelers from Australia, Canada, UK, Mexico, South Korea, US and France, he added.

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Au also said that one student tested positive through self-administered RAT tests. A total of 299 schools have resumed face-to-face classes since Tuesday, involving some 16,000 students and 26,000 teaching staff.

Au warned that the number of infections may rise as the government relaxed social distancing measures Thursday, including allowing dine-in services at restaurants until 10 pm.

"More people would go out as the government relaxed anti-virus measures. Some activities, like eating at restaurants when people need to take off their masks, are considered high-risk," Au said. 

"We would monitor the situation for one to two weeks to see if there is a rebound in the number of cases," he added.

Sara Ho, chief manager (Patient Safety and Risk Management) of the Hospital Authority, said at the same briefing that 14 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 died in the last 24 hours while there was one death that was not reported earlier.

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She said the patients were aged between 75 and 103, with four of them having no vaccination record.

The total number of deaths in the fifth wave rose to 9,014, with a mortality rate of 0.76 percent.

Also on Friday, the government said seven COVID-19 cases were found in the compulsory testing exercises for the restricted areas in Sha Tin and Diamond Hill.

The government made restriction-testing declarations on Thursday to cover Ching Chuen House of Shui Chuen O Estate in Sha Tin and Block 1 of Bel Air Heights in Diamond Hill.

Five positive and two indeterminate cases were found in Ching Chuen House where around 960 people were tested.

At Block 1 of Bel Air Heights, 878 people underwent testing and two of them tested positive for the virus.

The Centre for Health Protection will follow up on the cases, the government said.