Coronavirus: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to skip Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony to supervise anti-pandemic fight; 92 new cases confirmed
- Carrie Lam, who was earlier invited to Friday’s opening ceremony, says she has cancelled plans to travel to Beijing, as the city’s pandemic situation has ‘reversed’
- Many of Monday’s infections came from public housing estates in hard-hit Kwai Tsing and Wong Tai Sin districts, with partial evacuations ordered at some blocks
Hong Kong confirmed 92 new cases on Monday, 80 of them local, and 13 of those untraceable. The share of untraceable cases, at 14 per cent, was still well above the 9 per cent recorded on Saturday, but down slightly from the 18 per cent logged on Sunday.
The city’s confirmed infection tally now stands at 14,197, with 213 related deaths.
Many of Monday’s infections came from public housing estates in hard-hit Kwai Tsing and Wong Tai Sin districts, with many blocks reporting vertical and horizontal transmissions of the coronavirus.
Partial evacuations were ordered at four estates, affecting 40 flats at On Kwai House at Kwai Fuk Estate in Kwai Chung, and 23 units at Choi Wan (II) Estate’s Ming Lai House in Wong Tai Sin, among others.
“Starting with the fifth wave, we have quite a number of buildings – more than 10 – that have had vertical or horizontal transmissions,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable diseases branch.
“Because of the nature of buildings in Hong Kong, we have high-rises, very crowded, with some sharing pipes or sharing physical conditions that may facilitate the transmission.”