People wearing face masks walk on a street in Hong Kong, March 5, 2022. (LO PING FAI / XINHUA)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 1,276 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, including 115 imported infections.
Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said in a press briefing that the 1,161 local infections included 416 cases confirmed by nucleic acid testing and 745 by rapid antigen tests.
The cluster at a police counter-terrorism unit had a new infection, bringing its tally to 23, all involving men aged 27 to 50 years old
“We do have an increase but it is a gradual one. We cannot foresee how bad it will get but it very unlikely that we will get back to the situation back in May because the vaccination rate and the herd immunity level is quite high,” Au said.
Au said 54 of the imported cases were detected at the airport while there were three local infections found in residential care homes.
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He said the cluster at a police counter-terrorism unit had a new infection, bringing its tally to 23, all involving men aged 27 to 50 years old.
“Most of the 23 cases are clustered in a team,” Au said, adding that 116 other members of the unit tested negative for the virus.
The patients had taken off their face masks during meals, training, and in the shower in the changing room, he added.
Au said 14 suspected Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 cases that were found in Sham Shui Po, Tseung Kwan O, Castle Peak, and Mount Davies. He said there were a total of 250 BA.2.12.1 cases, including 80 that were untraceable.
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He also said that seven new BA.4 and BA.5 cases, including four imported infections, were recorded.
Larry Lee Lap-yip, chief manager (Integrated Clinical Services) of the Hospital Authority, also said at the briefing that there were two new reported deaths involving COVID-19 patients in the last 24 hours.
They involved an 80-year-old man, who had suffered a stroke, and a 52-year-old man who had a heart condition, diabetes and needed dialysis due to kidney failure.