By Daisy CL Mandap
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| CHP says it has received 120k reports of positive cases yesterday but were mostly from rapid tests |
The number of coronavirus cases in Hong
Kong surged to a new record high of 34,466 Monday, adding to the
burden of an already overwhelmed public health care system.
The biggest number of the confirmed cases, 28,487, came from
private laboratories while the rest were reported from public laboratories run
by the Hospital Authority and the Centre for Health Protection.
But the record tally may just be the tip of the iceberg as
Dr Albert Au of the CHP’s Infectious Disease Branch said they received reports
yesterday from about 120,000 people who said they had tested positive.
Of these, he said about 56,000 had confirmed PCR test
results, so they suspect the bigger number had tested positive using rapid
antigen tests (RATs). He did not make it clear why the confirmed cases reported
today were far fewer than any of these numbers.
Dr Au repeated the assurance that an online platform will be
set up soon so people who received positive RAT results could upload their
personal information “so we can count them as confirmed cases.”
He also warned of further surges, saying recent data showed a very high rate of increase, and that it doubles every three days.
Dr Larry Lee, a chief manager at the Hospital Authority,
reported a total of 124 new deaths resulting from Covid-19, with 87 of them
being recorded in the past 24 hours. The remaining 37 deaths happened between
Feb 19 and 25, and were not reported on time.
The most recent fatalities comprised 59 males and 28
females, aged between 51 and 100 years old.
Lee said 79 of the patients were aged 65 and above, and 49
came from care homes.
Sixty had no vaccination at all, while 10 had one dose of a
vaccine, while the remaining 10 had two jabs each.
Three of the patients were below 50, but had chronic
diseases. They passed on two to six days after being rushed to hospital with
severe symptoms like fever, shortness of breath, vomiting and brain hemorrhage.
They tested positive on admission to hospital.
The 37 who died earlier were made up of 23 males and 14
females, aged 37 to 105 years old. The youngest of the patient was said to be
in a care home because of a chronic ailment.
He was admitted to hospital with fever, and was discharged on
Feb 25 after his condition improved. However, he was sent back the next day
because of severe symptoms, and died in
the afternoon of the same day.
The latest fatalities took Hong Kong’s total death toll from
Covid-19 to 841, of which 690 were recorded in the fifth wave of infections
which began end of December last year.
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| Corpses are stuck in the A&E departments of some hospitals because morgues are full |
Dr Lee also said the surge in deaths in the past two weeks
has caused a gridlock in transferring corpses from the emergency rooms of
hospitals to the city’s three mortuaries.
He said authorities are looking at expanding the morgues’
capacity of 3,000.
Another problem is the increasing number of HA staff who contract
the virus. Lee said that so far, 3,160 health care workers have been infected.
The virus has also continued to spread among care homes
across Hong Kong, and doctors say they see the
number of cases rising further in the short term.
Dr Au said yesterday, 49 care facilities reported
infections, 46 of which were elderly homes, while the three catered to disabled
patients. Those affected consisted of 62 staff and 430 residents.
The homes are mostly located in Kowloon,
with a few scattered across Hong Kong and the New Territories.
A total of 580 care homes have been affected by the
coronavirus so far, and they involve 2,600 residents and 865 staff.
Dr. Au is urging everyone, especially the elderly, who have
not been vaccinated to please do so as soon as possible. He also repeated the appeal for people to stay at home if possible because of the relentless spread of the virus.
