By The SUN
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| Queen Elizabeth Hospital has recorded 9 infections, but doctors say there is nothing to fear |
Health authorities reported 3,486 Covid-19 infections
on Sunday, down by just under 300 from the previous day.
The new cases included 173 brought in from
overseas, including 68 identified at the airport, 69 in quarantine hotels, and
36 after the travelers’ seven-day isolation had ended.
Four Covid patients, all women with underlying illnesses aged between 71 and 94, passed away in the past 24 hours, taking the death tally from the fifth wave to 9,224.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The number of patients in hospitals went up
slightly to 1,122 after 126 newly infected people were taken in. Among them, 20
are in critical condition, including five who are in intensive care units; while
27 are seriously ill.
More people in hospitals tested positive for the
virus, including four patients and three staff at North District Hospital where
an elderly male patient was earlier confirmed as infected.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
At Buddhist Hospital, a 91-year-old female patient was also confirmed, raising the infection tally there to 15 – ten patients and five staff.
Over at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, two student
nurses and one patient service assistant from the orthopedics ward caught
Covid, taking the number of infections there to nine.
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Asked if the outbreak in hospitals signifies a worrying
trend, Dr Larry Lee of the Hospital Authority said it merely reflected what was
happening in the local community.
But he said the HA has already stepped up the
tests on staff to better protect them and their patients.
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| Press for details |
As for experts’ suggestion that the daily rapid
tests of students and school staff be halted, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre
for Health Protection disagreed, saying
it was an effective way of curbing the spread of the disease in
classrooms.
"At the present moment, we only observe a few clusters of cases among individual classes in some of the schools, around a few a day. So I think this is an effective measure to prevent major outbreaks in the schools and it should be maintained in the meantime," Chuang said at the daily press briefing.
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She said the measure helps prevent schools from
suspending face-to-face classes all over again.
Chuang also reported 43 additional cases of the
BA.2.12.1 Omicron sub-variant and 41 more with the BA.4 or BA.5 sub-variants.
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| PADALA NA! |
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