By The SUN
Chuang warns further increase in cases could affect the provision of healthcare services
Health officials reported a total of 3,256 new coronavirus infections Tuesday, 237 of them imported.
This is the second consecutive day that the tally has dropped slightly but the Centre for Health Protection has warned against complacency.
CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said, “We have seen infection
numbers remaining over 3,000 for several days and they are likely to keep
rising. We can see that the healthcare systems begin to become stretched in
some other places, such as the
“We are worried that if the figures continue to go up, it may affect
However, Dr Larry Lee of the Hospital Authority said a top-level monitoring team that is assessing the situation daily could mobilize manpower and add beds quickly should that become necessary.
Lee also reported four more Covid-related deaths, involving one male and four female patients aged between 90 and 99. All except the 99-year-old female patient had chronic illnesses.
Despite her advanced age, the patient had two vaccine shots and was relatively healthy until she developed a fever and became lethargic on Jul 8. A rapid antigen test showed she was positive for Covid, with a Ct value of 17.3, indicating a heavy viral load. Her condition deteriorated until she passed away yesterday.
The three other patients were one male aged 96 and two other females aged 90 and 92 who all had long-term illnesses.
The male patient had an inflamed gall bladder and renal failure while the two females both had arrhythmia. They all died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.
Lee said a total of 1,190 Covid patients are receiving treatment in public hospitals, and among them, 20 are in critical condition, including seven in intensive care units; and 40 are seriously ill.
Chuang said 498 additional cases were reported from schools, involving 408 students and 90 staff members. Some of the cases were from the previous day.
While the number of infections reported by the schools each day has gone up to between 300 and 400 recently, she said the figure is still within 10% of the total caseload.
She also said that about 700,000 people are tested in schools each day, so the daily infection figure remains small in comparison.
Eight schools have been told to suspend classes in which more than two infections have been reported.
Of the 237 additional imported cases, 122 were detected at the airport, 89 during hotel quarantine, and 26 after the newly arrived patients had completed their seven-day isolation.
