Patrons enjoy a drink at a bar in Lan Kwai Fong where bars reopen as the government further relaxes social distancing rules on May 19, 2022. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 851 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, a jump from Friday's 672, as authorities reported outbreaks at two more bars.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said in a news briefing that 74 of the new cases were imported, including 30 that were found at the airport.

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She added 491 cases were confirmed through nucleic acid tests and 360 by rapid antigen tests.

The new infections brought the tally during the city's fifth wave of COVID-19 to 1,205,730.

Eighteen people, aged between 21 and 35, who visited Racks City on Wyndham Street between 9 pm on June 4 and 2 am the next day were confirmed infected

Two bars on the Hong Kong Island become the sites of a COVID-19 outbreak. Eighteen people, aged between 21 and 35, who visited Racks City on Wyndham Street between 9 pm on June 4 and 2 am the next day were confirmed infected, Chuang said. 

"Some of them began to develop symptoms on June 6 while some remained asymptomatic," Chuang said.

Meanwhile, 13 patrons of bar FLM in Sheung Wan also tested positive. One of them visited on May 27 another bar Linq, which saw an outbreak involving some 100 people. 

Chuang said the cluster at the Shuffle bar in Central district had five more cases, increasing its total to 118, involving 112 patrons and six staff members. 

There were two confirmed cases reported from two residential homes and 27 elderly residents will be put under quarantine, Chuang added.

Authorities are also investigating two suspected local cases involving the mutated strain BA.2.1.2.1. One case involved a 57-year-old woman who lives in Tai Po and works at the Cathay Pacific lounge at the Hong Kong airport. The other involved a 61-year-old woman who resides in Wo Che Estate in Sha Tin.

No new deaths were recorded on Saturday.

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Meanwhile, 10 cases were detected during an overnight targeted testing operation at Hung Chak House of Hung Fuk Court in Aberdeen, where 869 people underwent compulsory testing.

Government staff also visited 350 households there and will follow up on those who did not answer the door.