Coronavirus: Hong Kong records 48 new cases in biggest daily jump yet as experts warn about imported infections
- Increase comes as government adviser says residents letting their guard down too soon
- Top microbiologist warns residents to brace for 200 imported cases of Covid-19 in the next two to three weeks
Hong Kong recorded 48 new coronavirus infections on Friday, the biggest daily jump since testing began, as medical experts warned the influx of arrivals from overseas had raised the risk of a resurging outbreak to its highest level yet.
The new confirmed cases take the city’s total number to 256, and a top microbiologist said Hong Kong might be on the edge of an all-out “war” against an explosion in infections.
The Centre for Health Protection said 36 of the latest round of infected people, aged between four and 69, had a travel history. One of the local cases is a taxi driver who had picked up passengers from the airport.
When asked whether the government should ban non-locals from entering the city, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the centre’s communicable disease branch, said all the fresh infections were residents, except one – an Australian who had been to the United States and Portugal. He was transiting at the airport and sent to hospital after feeling unwell.
Chuang warned the city might record a high number of cases in the coming days. “As some of the cases had travel history a few days before … with the incoming number of residents returning to Hong Kong, we may see a high number of cases for at least two weeks or more,” she said.