By The SUN
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| Many fear Covid-19 cases might surge again if people are forced to line up anew for testing (file) |
Health
officials have reported a total of 14,152 new Covid-19 cases Tuesday, roughly
the same number posted for the past two days.
The cases
included 9,856 confirmed from rapid antigen tests (RAT) and 4,296 from PCR
tests.
They took
Hong Kong’s Covid-19 tally in the fifth wave to 1,063,279
Ten of the
cases were imported, including four who came from Thailand, four from
Indonesia, one from Japan and another from Vietnam.
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Deaths
remained at a high level with a total of 237 new cases added to the tally, including
190 that occurred in the past 24 hours and 47 that were not reported on time.
Eight other fatalities tested positive during autopsy.
Meanwhile an announcement
by Health Secretary Sophia Chan that the LeaveHomeSafe app will again start
issuing compulsory testing notices has sparked concern.
The app notification to people
that they must get tested for Covid after they had been to the same place for
at least two hours as confirmed patients was suspended in late February when
there was a sudden increase in infections.
The government said back then
that the CTNs issued through the app would be stopped as the city’s testing
capacity had been overwhelmed.
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But speaking on a
radio program today, Chan said the notification function will resume this week
as the cases were starting to decline.
Asked if this would
just lead to a renewed surge in cases, Dr Albert Au of the Centre for Health
Protection said the aim is precisely to track as many asymptomatic patients as
possible to stop the silent transmission of the virus.
“If cases rise because
of the CTNs then we are achieving our purpose,” he said.
Au also allayed
concerns about the continuing rise in the number of Covid-related deaths.
He said the figures
released today included a backlog from two weeks ago, when the infection tally was
at its most severe, at between 60,000 to 70,000 a day.
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Au said there have
been 6,151 deaths in the fifth wave, raising the death rate to 0.58%. Not all
deaths are however, directly attributable to the virus.
Among the cases
reported so far are 35 which happened outside public hospitals, meaning the
patient died before they were tested positive for the coronavirus.
He repeated the call
for people to get vaccinated, especially the elderly. He said 88% of those who
succumb to the virus are unvaccinated or had only one dose of a vaccine, but
for those aged 90 and above, the ratio goes up to 90%.
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Dr Larry Lee of the
Hospital Authority said that of the 190 people who died on Monday, 105 were
males and 85 were females, aged 42 to 107.
Six of them were under
65 years old, and all had pre-existing health condition, including the youngest
patient who had a heart transplant. At least two were found to have pneumonia
after being taken to hospital.
The 47 other patients
whose deaths were not recorded on time died between Mar 7 to Mar 20. They
comprised 30 females and 17 males aged 62 to 102 years old.
As of the latest
bulletin, 11,646 patients were being treated in public hospitals and the
community isolation facility at AsiaWorld-Expo.
Among them, 41 are in
critical condition, and 25 of them are not vaccinated; 82 are in serious
condition while 114 patients have been admitted to intensive care.
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