Eight clinics resume regular services

Eight designated Covid-19 clinics will cease operations from today and revert to providing general outpatient services from tomorrow, the Hospital Authority has said.

Fifteen clinics will continue to serve Covid patients.

The Hospital Authority said the eight designated clinics - two on Hong Kong Island, three in Kowloon and three in New Territories - will be closed for disinfection today. They will begin providing general outpatient services from tomorrow.

That comes as Hong Kong recorded 280 fresh cases and three deaths yesterday.

Meanwhile, University of Hong Kong microbiologist Ho Pak-leung said the government should shorten the interval between the second and third doses of the Covid jab from six months to three to boost the jab rate.

Ho said only 850,000 elderly have received three jabs, making the city's triple-jab coverage just 42 percent.

Separately, a team led by Chinese University respiratory expert David Hui Shu-cheong found people gain a higher level of Covid antibodies from taking one jab after infection compared to those who get three jabs of the same vaccine and are not infected. The team conducted a study of 120 people from February 2020 to November last year to understand the effects of the Omicron variant BA.2 on people receiving different vaccines.

The results also showed those who got three doses of the BioNTech vaccine had higher levels of neutralizing antibodies than those who got three doses of Sinovac.

Meanwhile, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Centre for Health Protection, said the Covid cluster of Peony Golden Court in Yuen Long saw three more infections involving three diners aged 71 to 76. That brings the hotpot cluster to 23.

Chuang said authorities have completed tracking of all 190 people who dined at the restaurant on May 1, including three who were not in Hong Kong.

She said 24 more positive cases were reported by 23 schools yesterday, involving 15 students and nine staff.

Health authorities recorded 32 new imported cases. Two deaths were logged in public hospitals on Tuesday and one from earlier due to delayed updates.
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