People walk across a street in Hong Kong, May 3, 2022. (KIN CHEUNG / AP)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 1,685 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as health authorities investigated whether the outbreak in a Tuen Mun restaurant is related to a new “small-scale outbreak” in a Mong Kok eatery.
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 new cases included 1,533 local infections and 152 imported cases.
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 new cases included 1,533 local infections and 152 imported cases
Au said the cluster at Victoria Harbour restaurant in Tuen Mun had one new case, involving a 70-year-old man, bringing its total of infected patrons to 42.
At around 12:30 pm on June 19, two patients linked to the Tuen Mun cluster dined at Jade Garden restaurant in Mong Kok, Au said.
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He said compulsory testing later showed that three other diners and a waiter who were at Jade Garden on June 19 also got infected.
“There appeared to be a small-scale transmission which appears to be related to Victoria Harbour,” Au said, adding that genome sequencing analysis will be conducted to confirm if they are linked.
“The three patrons dined across two tables. We are still trying to find out the location of their tables,” he said.
He added that the ventilation system at Jade Garden will also be checked.
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Au said the 152 new imported cases included 86 detected at the airport, 54 found in quarantine hotels, and 12 that tested positive after quarantine.
He added that 202 cases were also reported from 172 schools, leading three schools in Sha Tin, Tsing Yi, and Ma On Shan to each suspend one class after two to four infections were found.
Health authorities also detected 28 cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, including 11 that were untraceable, in Tai Po, Tuen Mun, and Shau Kei Wan, Au said.
There were 16 suspected BA.4 or BA.5 cases, including one local infection that involved a 52-year-old woman who works at the airport, he added.
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Lau Ka-hin, chief manager (quality and standards) of the Hospital Authority, said in the same briefing that 645 COVID-19 patients were being treated in the city’s hospitals and 202 of them were in isolation wards.
He said there was one new reported death involving an 88-year-old female COVID-19 patient who also had hypertension and diabetes. She was brought to a hospital on June 25 but her condition deteriorated as she passed away on Monday, bringing the city’s death toll during the fifth wave to 9,186.