People dine at a restaurant in Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin area on Jan 16, 2022.
(BERTHA WANG / AFP)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong logged 278 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, compared to 324 reported on Friday, as authorities investigated an outbreak at a restaurant in the New Territories.

The new cases comprised 260 local infections and 18 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.

He added 115 were confirmed through nucleic acid tests and 163 by rapid antigen tests. The additions brought Hong Kong's infection tally during the fifth wave of epidemic to 1,193,688.

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Au said the 18 imported cases included 10 that were detected at the airport after they arrived from the Czech Republic, the US, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Canada, and France. 

A compulsory testing notice will be issued to around 190 patrons who visited Peony Golden Court restaurant in Yuen Long between 6:30 am and 9 am on May 1

Seven cases from Australia, France, the Netherlands, and Nepal were found during quarantine, he added. 

Au also said that the remaining patient from Singapore was detected during virus test on the 12th day after her arrival in the city.

The 24-year-old arrived in Hong Kong on April 22. The tests conducted at the airport and quarantine hotels all returned negative. She developed a sore throat on May 5 and only tested positive at the community center on the 12th day after her arrival, Au said.

“We are still investigating the case and do not rule out the possibility that she got infected in the community,” he said. 

No new death was reported on Saturday and the city's COVID-19 death toll stood at 9,131.

Au also said that authorities were investigating an outbreak at a Chinese restaurant in Yuen Long district where four patrons were confirmed infected between May 3 and May 5.

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The three men and one woman, aged 47 to 55, visited Peony Golden Court between 6:30 am and 9 pm on May 1. They do not know each other but were all sitting in the middle of the dining hall, according to Au.

One of them works at Pok Oi Hospital Jockey Club Care and Attention Home. Four staff members and some residents who were considered as close contact had been placed under quarantine, said Au. The around 50 staff members of the care home have so far tested negative to the virus.

Seven household members of the four patients were also under quarantine, he added.

A compulsory testing notice will be issued to around 190 patrons who visited the Yuen Long restaurant between 6:30 am and 9 am on May 1, Au added.