Coronavirus: Hong Kong logs 558 new infections, even after officials tighten rules on caseloads

Hong Kong confirmed 558 Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, higher than the number the day before, even after health authorities tightened their criteria by counting only verified cases.

The latest tally included 301 rapid antigen test (RAT) results that were confirmed by an extra polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, up slightly from 258 a day ago when the new rule of only announcing verified results came into effect.

But Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), cautioned that all but 30 of those 301 results were previously disclosed before the more stringent checking was adopted.

“That said, the epidemic numbers have risen slightly we think, whether in schools, total cases or RAT figures, but in terms of severe or death cases or hospitalisation numbers, there have not been any noticeable increases yet,” she said.

The city’s overall coronavirus tally stood at 1,216,229, while the death toll remained at 9,389.

All residents who declared a positive RAT result on the official online portal must also take a confirmatory PCR test, the government said, noting as many as 25 per cent of samples drawn the pool of uploaded results turned out to be negative last Friday, as some recovered residents submitted outdated data to try to circumvent vaccine pass rules.