By The SUN
CHP's Au and HA's Ho meet reporters for the daily Covid briefing |
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases bounced back up to 32,430 Sunday
after registering just over 27,000 the previous day.
This prompted Dr Albert Au of the Centre for Health Protection to
warn the public to remain alert because the cases could surge up anew.
“People should not get the wrong impression that the virus
situation is now under control,” Dr Au said.
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“Once we let our guard down it’s possible that (the number of
infections) will bounce back and rise again. We have seen such situations
during overseas outbreaks where the virus situation could go back up again
after it becomes stable.”
Previously, Au had said the situation seemed to be stabilizing because
the exponential growth in cases which peaked to more than 50,000 confirmed PCR
tests early this month had gone down to about 30,000 on average.
Of the new cases, 13,335 were confirmed
through PCR tests, while 19,095 were positive results for rapid tests which were
voluntarily reported to a government platform.
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They took Hong Kong’s total Covid-19 tally
from the fifth wave to 758,357 with those confirmed through PCR totaling 675,151
and the remaining 83,206 reported from rapid tests.
Three of the cases were imported and the rest
were all locally acquired.
The death toll remained high, with 264
reported in total, including 190 that happened in the past 24 hours.
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Yesterday’s fatalities were 112 males and 78
females aged between 39 and 105. The majority were elderly people aged 65 and
above. Among them, 124 were unvaccinated, 46 took one jab, while 20 received
two doses.
Among the relatively young fatalities were a
39-year-old man who lived in a care home and had a pre-existing condition that
required him to be in a wheelchair.
The rest of those who were under 60 either had
cancer or some serious long-term ailments.
Dr Sara Ho said that because of a backlog, 74 more Covid-related deaths that happened between Feb 27 and Mar 11 had just been reported.
The deceased included 44 males and 30 females, aged from 55 to 102
years old.
As of midnight of Mar 13, a total of 3,780
Covid-related deaths have been reported during the fifth wave. Including those
that happened in the earlier waves of the infection, the total death toll from
the pandemic is now at 3,993.
Press for details |
As of 9am Sunday, a total of 10,601 patients were being treated in public hospitals. The number of patients discharged was 741.
Among those undergoing treatment, 89 are in critical
condition while 144 were in serious condition.
The infection rate among public hospital staff has
continued to rise, with the total number of those stricken with Covid-19 rising
to 14,642. However, 6,754 of them have already returned to work.
The same problem continues to afflict residential care
homes, with four such facilities reporting new infections Saturday. The number
of residents who tested positive was 71, along with 15 staff.
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In the fifth wave alone, 745 elderly care homes have
reported infections, while 2,061 living in such facilities have passed on after
being detected with Covid.
Law says up to 3,000 caregivers are needed to look after the elderly |
Earlier in the day, Labour Secretary Law Chi-kwong reported that Hong Kong has so far hired 120 temporary care workers from the mainland to look after the elderly in isolation and quarantine facilities.
The government had previously announced that 1,000
caregivers from across the border would be hired amid the latest outbreak.
Law said the city still needs around 1,000 to 2,000
workers to take care of the infected elderly patients with mild or no symptoms
who are in quarantine facilities. Another 2,000 to 3,000
workers are needed for elderly care homes.
The CHP later issued a statement saying a two-week
suspension was imposed on flight TG600 operated by Thai Airways after one of
its passengers who arrived from Bangkok on Mar 9 had tested positive on arrival
in Hong Kong, while two passengers failed to comply with pre-flight
requirements.
(Covid-positive patients may call the hotline, 1836
115 to report their cases and seek medical advice about their infection. Those
who want to report a positive rapid test result may use this government
platform: https://www.chp.gov.hk/ratp/.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at
an earlier press briefing that there could be up to 300,000 Covid patients
currently undergoing isolation or quarantine at home.
She admitted that authorities have been unable to provide
immediate support to some of these patients, even in terms of providing them
with self-care kits.
"With so many people put under isolation or quarantine, the
government has been strengthening our capability to support them. However,
we're still catching up,” the CE said.
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