A Star Ferry prepares to dock in Central on Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on May 4, 2022. (PETER PARKS / AFP)
HONG KONG - Hong Kong reported 1,047 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, including 76 imported from Europe and the United States, in what one health official described as a “rebound” of the city’s fifth wave of infections.
Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer of the CHP’s communicable disease branch, said in a press briefing that the 971 local cases included 477 confirmed through nucleic acid testing and 494 by rapid antigen tests.
There were 23 new cases involving the infectious Omicron BA.2.12.1 subvariant, including five that were untraceable, said Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer of the CHP’s communicable disease branch
“This is a rebound. We will continue to monitor the trend. We consider this a rebound of the fifth wave,” Au said, adding that the increase in cases was still “within the expectation” of health authorities.
“From 200 to 300 cases each day in May, now we are looking at some 1,000 cases per day. It shows rapid transmission in the community,” he said.
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Au attributed the rise to the recent relaxation of social distancing measures, with more people going out and visiting high-risk places.
“However, we do not see evidence at this stage that there is an exponential increase of cases. Since early June, we saw a gradual rise unlike what we have seen in late February and early March when the number doubled or tripled every other day,” Au said.
He noted that the city’s vaccination rate is now much higher and many residents were infected during the fifth wave and are now immune.
“Yes, we have more cases but the number of hospitalizations, serious cases or deaths remain at a stable level,” Au said.
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He said four staff members and 10 residents of four residential care homes in Sham Shui Po, Kwai Tsing, Southern district, and Kwun Tong got infected.
There were 23 new cases involving the infectious Omicron BA.2.12.1 subvariant, including five that were untraceable, Au said.
He added that 135 students and 12 teaching staff members from 127 schools reported testing positive for the virus but there were “no outbreaks requiring suspension of classes.”
Au said the Racks City bar on Wyndham Street had one new infection while FLM bar in Sheung Wan had five more cases. He also said that the infection rate at Racks City was 28 percent and 25 percent in FLM.
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There was one new death reported, involving an 83-year-old woman, but Larry Lee Lap-yip, chief manager (Integrated Clinical Services) of the Hospital Authority, said at the same briefing that her death was due to a brain hemorrhage and not because of her COVID-19 infection.
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