Hong Kong fourth wave: 59 coronavirus cases confirmed, more affordable hotels to be added to quarantine list

Health minister warns rebound in infections could come from year-end gatherings

Civil service chief reveals plans to add cheaper hotels designated as quarantine facilities for month starting from mid-February, amid complaints

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Hong Kong may suffer a rebound in infections sparked by the holiday gatherings. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 1:36pm, 9 Jan 2021Updated: 12:32pm, 10 Jan 2021

Hong Kong confirmed 59 Covid-19 cases on Saturday, a new high for the year, as a senior official said more affordable hotels would be added to the government’s list of quarantine facilities.

Fifty-three of the fresh infections were locally transmitted, including 20 not linked to previous cases. The latest figures took the city’s overall tally to 9,211 cases. More than 20 people tested preliminary-positive for the virus pending confirmation. The city also reported two more Covid-19 deaths on Saturday, bringing the number of linked fatalities to 158.

Since the start of the month, the daily caseload had hovered between 25 and 53. On Friday, 45 infections were recorded, of which 42 were locally acquired.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said authorities would look at the count over the next few days to see whether there was a rebound but noted the surge in cases could be linked to the holidays over the past two weeks.

“Some of the unlinked cases had family gatherings, but not all of them. Many of them are retired and they only went to the market or stayed in the park for morning exercises,” she said. “I suspect there is still quite significant silent transmission in the community.”