The sun sets over a residential area in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong on July 14, 2022.
(YAN ZHAO / AFP)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 3,574 new COVID-19 cases on Friday as five more patients infected with the virus have passed away, health authorities said.
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Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said in a news briefing the new cases comprised 3,358 local infections and 216 imported ones.
Sixty of the imported cases came from the United Kingdom, 19 each from Singapore and the United States, 13 from the Philippines and 11 from Australia.
One driver, one bus nanny and two pupils of a school bus of St. Catherine's International Kindergarten were confirmed positive, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection
Chuang also said four residential care homes had reported confirmed cases while 258 schools reported 323 cases involving 263 students and 60 teachers.
She said that one driver, one bus nanny and two pupils of a school bus of St. Catherine's International Kindergarten were confirmed positive. Twenty-six pupils who took the same school bus are advised not to go to school for seven days, according to Chuang.
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Sara Ho, Chief Manager (Patient Safety and Risk Management) of the Hospital Authority, said in the same briefing that five COVID-19 patients passed away, including one man and four women aged 64 to 90 years old. They also suffered from chronic diseases or had cancer that metastasized.
Ho also said that Hospital Authority staff taking care of high-risk patients will need to undergo two extra nucleic acid tests every week on top of the daily rapid antigen test.
She explained that nucleic acid tests are more sensitive and the new rule will better protect vulnerable patients at public hospitals