Coronavirus Hong Kong: hospitals experience uptick in Covid-related admissions as city logs more than 1,900 cases
- Health official says number of hospital patients admitted with mild coronavirus symptoms has ‘increased slightly’, but severe cases remain stable
- City records 1,917 cases, comprising 1,799 local and 118 imported infections, and no additional deaths
Hong Kong hospitals have experienced a slight uptick in coronavirus-related admissions but the number of serious cases is stable, a health official has said, with the daily infection tally remaining in the four-digit range for the 12th day in a row.
The city on Sunday recorded 1,917 coronavirus cases, comprising 1,799 local and 118 imported infections. The figure marked an increase from Saturday’s total of 1,794. No additional virus-related deaths were reported.
Hong Kong’s overall Covid-19 tally stands at 1,237,623 cases and 9,398 fatalities.
Health officials also revealed that 601 people were currently in hospital as a result of contracting the virus, up from 558 on Saturday.
“The number of patients with mild symptoms has increased slightly, but the number of those who need intensive care or are in critical condition has not surged. The number remains at a stable level,” said Dr Sara Ho Yuen-ha, chief manager of patient safety and risk management at the Hospital Authority.
Eleven patients were in critical condition, including three in intensive care units, while 12 were listed as serious, Ho added.
Despite the recent rise in Covid-related admissions, the authority had earlier said it had sufficient manpower and facilities to cope with the increase in patients.
It added there was no need to set up any new designated Covid-19 hospitals at the moment, with most patients experiencing only mild symptoms, while no signs had emerged of a sharp increase in severe cases.
However, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection warned that infection levels were rising slowly, with a chance they would increase even further.
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Chuang also said at least eight students and staff from two schools had tested positive for the virus, with both institutions required to suspend face-to-face lessons for affected classes for a week.
Another three cases were also discovered at Fu Tai Elderly Home as part of a cluster which was first reported by authorities on Saturday, bringing the number of patients linked to the care facility to 15.
Most of the confirmed cases are concentrated on one floor and some have been sent to quarantine. More residents would have to be isolated if new infections were detected on other floors, Chuang said.
Hong Kong logs 1,794 Covid cases; hospitals can handle surge, official says
Authorities were still investigating the cause of the cluster but suspected that two employees had contracted the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 and brought the virus to the care facility.
The employees are also possibly linked to another cluster at the Victoria Harbour Restaurant in Tuen Mun, which so far has a total of 40 confirmed cases. Officials are still investigating the outbreak.
Chuang said more than 30 diners still had not undergone compulsory screening, while others might just have conducted polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and were still waiting for results.
Five Covid-19 infections were also detected at two other care homes, while about 70 close contacts were sent to quarantine, Chuang said.
