The SUN HK : Covid cases spike to over 8k again as bivalent booster gets green light

18 November 2022

By The SUN

It's the second consecutive day that the daily Covid tally topped 8,000

Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 caseload jumped to 8,008 today, Friday, of which 507 were imported cases and the remaining 7,501 were all locally acquired.

The number of cases was just slightly down from the 8,052 cases reported on Thursday, which was the highest daily tally in about two months.

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In a rare press briefing on the Covid situation, health officials said there has been a 28.6 percent jump in local infections from the previous week, with many of the cases being detected in schools and care homes.

Imported cases also rose by 5.7% over the same period.

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Eight more Covid patients died on Thursday, raising the death toll in the fifth wave of the pandemic to 10,364.

Of the 507 additional imported cases, 244 were detected among new arrivals at the airport, 179 during day 1 to day 3, and the remaining 84 in days 4 to 7.

The overwhelming number of infections found in the first three days of a person’s arrival prompted the government to cut the number of nucleic acid (PCR) tests for travelers to just two – at the airport on arrival and the next day, starting on Monday.

The PCR tests required on days 4 and 6 after arrival will be scrapped.

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However, all inbound travelers will still have to do daily rapid antigen tests for seven days and must stay in one place during this time although they are free to go around, except for certain high-risk places like restaurants.

Meantime, the Secretary of Health has approved the use of the BioNTech bivalent vaccine which specifically targets the BA.4-5 variant of the Omicron.

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The new vaccine, which will be used as a substitute for the fourth or second booster jab, is expected to arrive from Germany at the end of this month.

However, the Sinovac and BioNTech vaccines currently being used as a fourth dose will continue to be available to the public.