In this picture taken on May 13, 2022, people cross a street in Hong Kong. With the fifth wave of COVID-19 outbreak coming under subsiding, life in the city is becoming normal, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Monday. (ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 1,327 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, including a “high” of 141 imported infections, as health authorities started readying hospital beds in case there was a spike in hospital admissions of coronavirus patients.    

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said in a news briefing that the local cases included 435 that were confirmed through nucleic acid testing and 751 by rapid antigen tests.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said in a news briefing that the local cases included 435 that were confirmed through nucleic acid testing and 751 by rapid antigen tests

She said the 141 imported infections included 72 that were detected at the airport and 46 that were confirmed during quarantine.

“It’s a high number for imported cases,” Chuang said, adding that 36 cases were detected from 13 flights on June 18 at the airport and 32 the following day from 12 flights.

ALSO READ: HK logs 1,276 cases, including 115 imported infections

She said 335 students and 73 teachers from 289 schools also reported being infected but only 108 tested positive today while rest took their RAT test over the weekend or earlier.

She said 130 schools had two or more cases but many of them were not linked and the CHP did not detect any outbreak. 

Nevertheless, Chuang said they recommended the suspension of six in-person classes in schools in Chai Wan, Tsuen Wan, Southern District, Aldrich Bay, and Choi Hung after these had three to five infections. 

She also said that the CHP detected four suspect Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 infections and one new reported death, bringing the toll to 9,183.

Hospital Authority Chief Manager Sara Ho said in the same briefing that the COVID-19 patient who passed away was a 53-year-old man who had a cardiac arrest and suffered from colon cancer. She said the coroner was looking into the case to determine the patient’s cause of death.

ALSO READ: HK to require bar patrons to show RAT results

Ho also said that that the HA was already preparing its contingency plans to ensure that there would be enough hospital beds and manpower should there be a surge in hospital admissions. 

“So far at the HA, the supply of manpower and hospital beds are sufficient to cope with the situation but we are not letting our guard down,” Ho said.

“We have instructed the different clusters..so that in each and every cluster, there would be sufficient beds so that we would be ready..if there is a large number of patients who need to be hospitalized,” she added.

Ho said the HA deployed 11,000 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients during the height of the fifth wave of infections.

READ MORE: HK keeps tracing COVID-19 through sewage surveillance

As of Monday, there were 846 COVID-19 patients being treated in the city’s public hospitals, including 67 newly confirmed patients, Ho said. 

She added that 16 patients were in critical condition, including three in intensive care units, while nine were in serious condition.