Hong Kong third wave: daily caseload falls to 7, lowest in two months, as number of residents signing up for mass screening surpasses 1 million
- Three of the infections are untraced, with two detected through the citywide testing scheme
- Residents can also expect to soon receive more free reusable masks, government says
The city has seen the current Covid-19 third wave tapering off in recent weeks, with daily cases falling into the low double and single-digit figures.
All of the latest infections were locally transmitted, among them a guest at Metropark Hotel in Mong Kok, where four cases have already been found.
Three of the new infections were untraced, including a 62-year-old car mechanic who works at a garage in To Kwa Wan.
The two others were detected through the mass screening effort, which aims to break hidden transmission links, taking to 10 the number of infected people the programme has uncovered. By 8pm, 1.06 million people had registered online for the free, voluntary testing and 439,000 specimens had been tested.
“We have seen some unknown cases detected through this [mass testing] programme and this helps us to try to stop the chain of transmission,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch. “We have to wait until the end of the programme … to do more analysis.”