A girl wearing a face mask, runs away from a replica of a gorilla at park in Hong Kong, May 9, 2022. (KIN CHEUNG / AP)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 329 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, six of which were linked to a cluster detected at a restaurant in Sheung Wan.
The new cases include 31 imported infections and 298 local cases, Albert Au, principal medical and health officer of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said at a press briefing.
The new cases include 31 imported infections and 298 local cases, Albert Au, principal medical and health officer of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said at a press briefing
He said 127 were confirmed through nucleic acid testing while 202 were detected through rapid antigen tests. Wednesday’s figure is slightly higher than the 328 cases on Tuesday.
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Au said six new infections, involving five customers and one staff member, were found at the Sky Cuisine restaurant in Sheung Wan, bringing the number of cases in the cluster to 70.
“The infections happened on the night of May 7..We suspect a superspreading event that night,” he said.
The restaurant had 220 patrons and 30 staff members that evening. So far, 60 customers and 10 staff members have tested positive, Au added.
He said the genome sequence of the cases in Sky Cuisine were almost identical with those in Sai Wan Estate cluster in Kennedy Town, where a staff member of the restaurant lived.
“They are extremely similar…so maybe the staff member led to the outbreak in Sky Cuisine. We don’t rule that out,” said Au, noting that infections spread in San Wan Estate before May 7.
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However, he said the staff member’s viral load was "low" so the superspreader could be a different person.
Au also said the cluster at the Imperial Kitchen eatery in Kwun Tong had six new cases, bringing its total to 26.
He said that three more cases were found at the TamJai Yunnan Mixian restaurant in Tung Chung, which now has six infectons, while another case was detected at the the billiards hall in Hung Hom, bringing this cluster’s number of cases to 16.
Au also said that a 29-year-old woman from the United Kingdom tested positive for the Omicron BA.4 variant, adding that the city now had detected four cases.
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“With the relaxation of social distancing, there have been more people (going out) so it is inevitable that there are new outbreaks,” Controller of the CHP Edwin Tsui said at the same briefing.
“We don’t have to be overly worried with an increase of 10 to 20 cases…Our key focus is reducing serious cases and deaths, he added.
Meanwhile, Lau Ka-hin, chief manager (quality and standards) of the Hospital Authority, also said in the same briefing that four patients infected with COVID-19 passed away in the last 24 hours.
They comprised three men and one woman aged 64 to 90 years old. They all had no vaccination records, Lau said.