People are seen at the West Kowloon Cultural district overlooking Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on Oct 27, 2022. (ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)

HONG KONG – The health authorities in Hong Kong registered 15,774 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday as 24 more people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus died.

There were 813 imported cases among the newly reported infections, according to the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health.

The new deaths took the tally of death cases to 10,918 during the fifth wave and to 11,131 since the beginning of the pandemic, it added.

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Of Saturday’s locally acquired new cases, 12,164 cases tested positive by rapid antigen tests while the rest 2,797 through nucleic acid tests.

Meanwhile, 462 of the imported cases involved samples taken at the Hong Kong International Airport. Another 290 of them involved samples taken during day 1 to day 3, while the remaining 61 involved samples taken during day 4 to day 7.

The Department of Health’s Public Health Laboratory Services Branch has identified 226 cases of sub-lineage XBB, six of XBD, eight of BA.2.75.2, seven of BA.4.6, 13 of BF.7 and 38 of BQ.1.1 among imported cases in the city.

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The laboratory also detected 142 cases of sub-lineage XBB, 18 of XBD, one of BA.2.75.2, nine of BF.7 and 166 of BQ.1.1 among locally transmitted cases, the CHP added.