HK sees 543 Covid cases, 204 from schools

Schools in Hong Kong reported 204 Covid cases on Monday after the long weekend, as the city added 543 new cases.

Among the new cases, 211 were confirmed via PCR tests and 332 were self-declared positive rapid antigen test results. Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection reported the official tally of the fifth wave now exceeded 1.203 million.

She also added 86 imported cases, including 42 detected at the airport, 39 identified at the airport and five who completed the seven-day quarantine.

Chuang said the authorities checked the records on June 3, when 300 positive results were reported from citizens. All of them have been arranged for nucleic acid testing, of whom 225 tested positive, and the rest were tested negative or refused to submit samples.

Meanwhile, 147 schools in Hong Kong reported 204 cases. Some classes have to suspend school for several days.

Among them, Kowloon Tong Funful English Primary School reported 12 confirmed students, involving four classes. Hong Kong Baptist University Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary and Primary School had three more close contacts who tested positive, and Fuk Wing Street Government Primary School saw four students in class 4C being infected.

LINQ added 15 new cases to 93 cases in total, and the fourth Covid-hit bar Shuffle reported 16 new infections, taking the number of cases within the cluster to 85.

Preliminary genetic analysis of 45 LINQ cases and 28 Shuffle cases showed no L452Q variant, that is, they were expected to be infected by a local strain.

Chuang said it has been more than two weeks since the outbreaks at ZENTRAL and Iron Fairies & J. Boroski. It was unable to tell whether the new related cases were infected at the bars or in the community, so the number was cut off yesterday.

Two new cases involving BA.2.12.1 were detected, of which one was related to the Mcdonald's cluster earlier. Another was a family member of a previous case living at Taikoo Shing.

Hospital Authority’s Chief Manager of Quality and Standards Lau Ka-hin reported no new death on Monday. The city's overall death tally now stands at 9,173.

Public hospitals and treatment facilities are now housing 367 patients. Among them, 11 are in critical condition, seven are in serious condition and six are staying hospitals' intensive care units.
×