Two women sit on a bench overlooking the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on Sept 29, 2022. (ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)
HONG KONG – The number of new COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong continued to drop on Sunday with the city’s health authorities registering 3,569 cases and six related deaths.
While 3,907 new coronavirus cases were logged on Saturday, the number was 4,023 on Friday and 4,269 the previous day.
In recent weeks, the financial hub eased COVID-19 curbs, including scrapping a mandatory hotel quarantine, amid a stabilizing pandemic situation.
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From Oct 6, some social distancing measures will be relaxed, including raising the maximum number of persons per table in restaurants to 12 from eight, while banquets will be allowed to have up to 240 people attending, compared with 120 now.
Of the new cases logged on Sunday, 3,354 were locally transmitted, while the rest are imported, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health said in a statement.
HK will relax some social distancing measures, including raising the maximum number of persons per table in restaurants to 12 from eight, from Oct 6
Total 2,490 of the locally acquired cases tested positive by rapid antigen tests (RATs) and the rest 864 cases were confirmed through nucleic acid tests, the CHP added.
Of the 215 imported cases, 205 cases tested positive by nucleic acid tests and the rest through RATs.
According to the Hospital Authority, total 1,673 patients, including 187 new ones, diagnosed with COVID-19 are undergoing treatment currently at different hospitals.
There are six newly reported critical patients and seven serious patients. Total 37 patients are in critical condition, of whom 12 are receiving intensive care, and 28 in serious condition.
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Among the specimens received by the Public Health Laboratory Services Branch in seven days till Sept 29 for verification testing of local cases, about 3.5 percent and 89.3 percent are related to the sub-lineages BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/BA.5 of the Omicron mutant strain respectively, said the CHP.