Covid-19 cases fall further to 14,149 but death toll remains high

By Daisy CL Mandap

People are going out more as the infection continues to ease

Hong Kong’s confirmed cases of Covid-19 have fallen below 20,000 for the second consecutive day in a further sign that the infection has begun to ease.

Health officials reported a total of 14,149 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, the lowest number recorded in the past three weeks when the Omicron outbreak caused a surge in cases.

Among the latest cases, 8,273 came from rapid test results reported by patients while 5,876 were confirmed via PCR tests.

All but four were local cases – three flew in from Thailand and Mauritius while one came from Singapore.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said the drop in infections could have been caused by several factors, including a peak in the outbreak having been reached, the increase in vaccination and social distancing measures taking effect.

But she again warned that a rebound could ensue if people started gathering again or fail to observe personal hygiene.

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Chuang also said that an additional 246 deaths were added to the total tally, including 205 that were added yesterday, and 41 that were not reported on time.

There are now a total of 1,035,059 Covid infections and 5,683 deaths in the Omicron outbreak in Hong Kong. The death rate has risen slightly to 0.55%.

Among those who died were 27 whose infections were detected during autopsy of patients who died outside of hospitals.

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According to Hospital Authority’s Dr Lau Ka-hin, those who died at home included one who fell off a building and one who had a stroke and had no symptoms. They were discovered to have been infected at the morgue.

He said it would take time to analyze the more than 5,000 cases listed as Covid-19 related. With younger patients, he said it was easy to diagnose the deaths as being due to the coronavirus, but not so with most of the fatalities who were elderly and had chronic diseases.

Lau said that 84% of the 205 Covid patients who died on Saturday were either unvaccinated or had only one dose of a vaccine.

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Those who were aged 65 years old and above numbered 194 but there were four younger patients, aged between 44 and 58. They all they suffered from chronic illnesses like brain disease, liver cirrhosis, diabetes, kidney failure and lung cancer.

The 41 others whose deaths were not reported earlier were aged 45 to 98 years old.

The government has rushed to vaccinate residents of elderly care homes to stop the virus spread

Meanwhile, leading microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung told reporters earlier on Sunday that Hong Kong does not have to achieve zero infections as long as everyone is vaccinated.

Yuen said that some 2.5 million people in Hong Kong have already been infected, and that it is not likely that the virus will go away.

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"You can achieve a low level, but it's highly unlikely that it will disappear because the virus will mutate and change its surface protein so that your neutralising anti-bodies are not able to neutralise it," he said.

Instead of conducting citywide testing, he said the focus should be more on reducing mortality and hospitalization figures.

Yuen also said Hong Kong should allow international travelers to come in as long as they are fully vaccinated and test negative on arrival.

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"The amount of cases in the community is far higher than the risk of introduction from overseas travellers. I do not think there's a need to wait any longer," he said.

But he said the new arrivals should be required to conduct daily rapid tests for a time, and required to isolate if they test positive.