Advertisement
Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Hong Kong’s Covid-19 third wave ‘most severe’, with 61 new confirmed and provisional infections

  • Top health official says recent surge eclipses the rush of cases in March, with source of so many infections now unknown
  • Of Saturday’s 28 confirmed cases, 16 are locally transmitted, while dozens more people test preliminary positive

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
Hong Kong is fighting its toughest battle with Covid-19 since the epidemic took hold, according to a senior health official. Photo: May Tse
Gigi ChoyandChan Ho-him
Hong Kong’s third wave of Covid-19 is by far the most serious of the public health crisis to date, the health authorities warned on Saturday as at least 61 people in the city were either confirmed as infected or had tested preliminary positive.

The city reported 16 local infections among the 28 cases officially recorded on Saturday, while another 33 people were awaiting confirmation they had caught the coronavirus.

The continued surge, which takes Hong Kong’s Covid-19 total to 1,431 with seven deaths, prompted pleas from health experts for the public to stay at home and avoid going into work where possible, while the government said it would not rule out a further tightening of social-distancing restrictions.

“This third wave of infections is by far the most severe since the epidemic started, even worse than back in March,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s (CHP) communicable disease branch.

Among the 33 preliminary positive cases is a Hong Kong immigration officer stationed at a Shenzhen border checkpoint, as well as at least two taxi drivers.

With the number of confirmed cases having unknown sources of infection climbing by seven on Saturday to 28 in the past week, Chuang said that when Hong Kong was gripped by a surge of cases in March, the daily double-digit increases were largely made up of imported cases or those linked to traceable sources.

“Now that there are outbreaks affecting restaurants, elderly homes, with some students affected as well as certain areas and some housing estates … we are concerned about the situation,” she said.

Advertisement