HK says infection rebound possible as 251 new Covid-19 cases reported

By The SUN 

2 more students at St Catherine's International Kindergarten school are among the 251 new cases

Health Secretary Sophia Chan has urged the public to remain vigilant as a rebound in Covid-19 cases could occur.

Her statement came as the Centre for Health Protection reported 251 new infections on Thursday, with two related deaths. Among the newly recorded cases, 36 were imported.

Chan noted that the daily caseload has hovered between 200 and 300, and early this week, even dropped to below 200.

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What this means, according to her, is that there are still hidden transmission chains in the community, and a surge could happen again. However, she assured that the government was prepared to respond if a rebound does occur.

Meanwhile, CHP’s Dr Albert Au reported that two more cases involving students at St Catherine’s Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong were reported today, raising the total number of infections in the cluster to nine.

The students were among 20 cases involving 19 schools that were reported Thursday. The patients included 13 students and seven teachers and staff.

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The outbreak at McDonald’s in Cityplaza also resulted in one more case, involving a 99-year-old woman who did not go to the restaurant but lives in the same building as a 76-year-old patient who caught the coronavirus there.

A lockdown of block 6 of Richland Gardens in Kowloon Bay where they both live resulted in the older woman’s infection being detected.

The cluster, which involves the transmission of the Omicron BA.2.12.1 sub-variant, now has 11 cases, including nine diners, a diner’s mother and the latest patient.

As for the imported cases, 26 were uncovered at Hong Kong airport, while the remaining 10 cases were detected during quarantine.

The patients had flown in from the United States (16), Singapore (5), United Kingdom (3), Thailand through Taiwan (2) and one each from the Philippines, Indonesia, Netherlands, Norway, Italy, India and United Arab Emirates.

Two flights have been suspended for five days each for flying in a number of infected passengers. These are Turkish Airlines’ TK 070 from Istanbul and Emirates flight EK384 from Dubai, UAE.

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The two deaths that were reported involved residents of elderly care homes. One was a man aged 67 and the other, a woman aged 87.

A total of 447 patients are being treated at public hospitals and medical facilities. Five of them are in intensive care units and two are in serious condition.