Coronavirus: Hong Kong logs 19 new infections; 300,000 Pfizer-BioNTech shots land in city for vaccination relaunch
- The new vaccines will be used for Monday’s relaunch of the programme, which was suspended on March 24 because of defective vials
- Visitors to MCP Central shopping centre ordered to get tested after two cases linked to mall in Tseung Kwan O
The slight rebound in daily cases came as people who had visited MCP Central, a shopping centre in Tseung Kwan O, in the past two weeks were ordered to go for mandatory Covid-19 testing, after two infections were linked to the mall.
Cathay Pacific flight CX288 from Frankfurt landed with the shots at about midday ahead of Monday’s planned resumption of the BioNTech programme, following a 12-day suspension over defective vials in the city’s original supply of the vaccine.
The fresh batch of BioNTech doses will be the first to be used when the programme resumes.
Of Friday’s infections, seven were locally transmitted, while one was untraceable. The remaining 12 were imported, and involved arrivals from Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Botswana, Canada and Ireland.
The city’s total number of confirmed cases rose to 11,499, with 205 related deaths. Several cases of preliminary-positive infections were also recorded on Friday.