Hong Kong logs fewest new local Covid-19 cases since March 6, as medical expert suggests allowing vaccine recipients to switch jabs over severe side effects

City records eight new infections on Sunday, with only four local transmissions

Expert says switching brands after first vaccination not recommended, but there may be an exception for those who experience severe side effects

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People queue up to receive Sinovac vaccines at the start of Hong Kong’s mass inoculation drive late last month. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 1:00pm, 21 Mar 2021Updated: 11:30pm, 21 Mar 2021

People who experience severe side effects such as facial paralysis after their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine should be allowed to switch their choice of jabs, a medical expert suggested on Sunday, as Hong Kong logged eight new cases.

The latest figures took the total number of coronavirus infections in the city to 11,379, with 203 related deaths. More than 10 people had tested preliminary-positive, mostly imported, while five were close contacts related to the Ursus Fitness cluster.

Four of Sunday’s new cases were imported from the United States, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Canada. The other four were local transmissions, the lowest since March 6, including a 26-year-old man arrested on Friday for illegal gathering whose infection was untraceable.

Sixteen others who were also arrested at the same time have been quarantined, while 15 police officers involved in the operation at the Sam Ka Tsuen Recreation Ground, in Yau Tong, on Friday tested negative for the coronavirus, but five officers considered to be close contacts had been quarantined.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch said while the Ursus Fitness cluster, which had grown to 142 cases on Sunday, had mostly been brought under control, the city was still seeing infections with unknown sources and should remain vigilant.