People queue up outside a vaccination center for BioNTech in Hong Kong on April 6, 2021. (VINCENT YU / AP)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported eight new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, including two local cases of unknown origin, bringing the city’s tally to 11,539.
One of the local cases involved a 71-year-old retired woman who lived at Yau Oi Estate Oi Fai House in Tuen Mun, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said at a briefing.
The three patients from the Philippines and Pakistan were infected with coronavirus variants. So far, the city had recorded 178 people with COVID-19 variants
The housewife developed a headache on Saturday and dined with family members and friends at several restaurants in the district, including Golden Star Seafood Restaurant, Chuang said.
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The other locally infected patient was a 41-year-old man who lived at Shan King Estate King Fu House in Tuen Mun and last went to his workplace at Wheelock House in Central on Thursday, Chuang said.
The man developed symptoms on March 29 and more than 10 of his colleagues would be quarantined, she added.
Chuang said the rest of six cases on Wednesday were all imported, including two from India, two from Pakistan and one each from Egypt and the Philippines.
According to her, the three patients from the Philippines and Pakistan were infected with coronavirus variants. So far, the city had recorded 178 people with COVID-19 variants.
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Chuang said there were also about 10 preliminarily positive cases, mostly imported. Among them was a 70-year-old woman who also lived at Yau Oi Estate Oi Fai House in Tuen Mun but in another unit.
The infection of the woman, who mostly stayed at home alone, had not been linked to the other newly confirmed case in the building and remained untraceable, Chuang said, adding that there could be hidden transmissions in the area.
The focus of government’s anti-epidemic strategy should be warding off imported cases at this stage, said Ho Pak-leung, an infectious disease expert from the University of Hong Kong.
Speaking on a radio program, Ho warned of “disastrous consequences” if patients from overseas bring COVID-19 variants into local neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, the Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following COVID-19 Immunisation met today to assess the 15 death case reports that were recorded as of April 4.
These cases involved 11 males and four females between 55 and 80 years old and most of them died due to cardiovascular diseases. The committee has already concluded that three of these deaths were not due to the COVID-19 vaccination, according to a government statement.
The medical history and preliminary autopsy findings of 11 cases also showed that they were not directly associated with the vaccination while the remaining case would be assessed once the preliminary autopsy findings become available, it added.