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Residents line up at a community vaccination centre to receive Covid-19 jabs. Photo: Edmond So

Coronavirus: Omicron BA.5 subvariant may trigger new infection wave if it becomes dominant strain, health official warns, as Hong Kong logs 6,389 cases

  • According to authorities, 30.2 per cent of Covid-19 cases recorded on Saturday involved BA.5 subvariant
  • ‘We worry that there may be a new outbreak wave in the future, especially when we enter winter,’ Centre for Health Protection’s Albert Au says

A more contagious coronavirus subvariant may trigger a new infection wave in the winter if it becomes the dominant strain in Hong Kong, health authorities have warned, while the daily number of infections topped 6,000 for three days straight.

The Centre for Health Protection said 30.2 per cent of the 6,389 cases recorded on Saturday involved the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, reaching a new high since the strain was first detected in the city last month.

BA.2.12.1, another Omicron subvariant, accounted for 7.9 per cent of the latest infections, according to authorities.

Dr Albert Au from the Centre for Health Protection. Photo: May Tse

Omicron BA.5 has become the dominant strain in the United States and most European countries since June. It is known for its high infectivity and ability to evade immunity.

Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, the department’s principal medical and health officer, said: “The proportion of BA.5 cases has been on an ascending trend recently.”

But he pointed out that the phenomenon was within the expectations of health authorities, adding that the particular strain was more transmissible than other Omicron subvariants.

“We expect this subvariant branch will be more transmissible in the community. This may also be one of the reasons for the continuous increase in caseloads,” Au said.

He also explained that the trend in Hong Kong was being seen overseas and as BA.5 cases surpassed a certain threshold, the subvariant would spark a rapid rise in infections and replace others to become the dominant strain.

Should Hong Kong be concerned about global rise in Omicron subvariants?

“We expect Hong Kong to face this situation as well,” Au said. “We worry that there may be a new outbreak wave in the future, especially when we enter winter.”

Of the 6,389 coronavirus infections reported on Saturday, 179 were imported and there were five additional deaths. The city’s Covid-19 tally stands at 1,451,725 cases and 9,602 fatalities.

The real-time effective reproductive number of the virus compiled by the University of Hong Kong’s faculty of medicine for local cases also revealed a rebound in the infection rate, with one patient now being able to pass the virus to 1.2 people.

Officials earlier said new cases were increasing by 400 to 500 each day, compared with 100 to 200 previously.

Hong Kong recorded 6,389 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu estimated that daily coronavirus cases could reach 10,000 in the next two weeks due to the BA.5 subvariant.

“As we can see, the number of BA.5 cases has doubled each week recently … But the scale of the next wave will be smaller thanks to herd immunity. I believe the number will peak in September at a low five-digit number,” he said.

Leung added he expected the next wave to subside before November provided no new Omicron subvariants emerged and suggested the government consider resuming quarantine-free travel at that time.

Hong Kong logs over 6,400 Covid cases as number of youngsters getting jabs rises

Meanwhile, Dr Mike Kwan Yat-wah, a consultant at Princess Margaret Hospital’s paediatric infectious disease unit, said an infected 27-month-old boy who developed symptoms of croup, characterised by an obstruction of the airway caused by viral infection, was discharged on Friday, five days after being listed as critically ill from Covid-19.

“He is recovering well. I believe there will not be any longer-term sequelae,” he said. “I would say he was very lucky. If there was any delay in treatment, he might not get enough oxygen to his brain and this would cause permanent damage.”

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Kwan added that more children in Hong Kong were being sent to hospital after developing croup, with a rate of nearly one case per day.

He said health authorities had reported 60 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, involving high fever, skin rash and diarrhoea two to five weeks after recovering from Covid-19. Some children had been placed under intensive care.

He stressed that sufficient scientific evidence had already shown vaccination could prevent acute as well as mid- and long-term Covid-19 symptoms in children, urging more young people to receive jabs.

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