People walk along a promenade in Hong Kong on March 8, 2022. (DALE DE LA REY / AFP)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 31,402 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday as a health official said the city’s worst wave of coronavirus infections may have already peaked.
Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said in a press conference that the new cases were comprised of 10 imported infections and 31,392 local cases.
Albert Au Ka-wing, principal medical and health officer of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said the new cases were comprised of 10 imported infections and 31,392 local cases
He said 7,012 cases were detected thru rapid antigen tests (RAT) while 24,390 cases were confirmed by PCR tests.
Au noted that the PCR positive cases have gone down from a high of over 50,000 between March 2 to 4.
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“According to the figures on PCR positive cases, We have seen the peak around the 2nd to 4th of March, reaching over 50,000 cases per day,” Au said.
He said this figure dropped to 30,000 from March 5 to 6 and further decreased to 25,000 to 30,000 in the past four days.
“So judging from PCR cases, we are seeing a gradual decreasing trend and probably we have already reached the peak,” he said.
Au also said the city saw an average of 10,000 RAT positive cases in the last few days.
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“There is no increasing trend,” he said, ading that it has "stabilized".
Nevertheless, Au urged members of the public not to drop their guard to avoid a rebound in infections.
“We advise the citizens to remain vigilant because the number of cases still remain at a high level although the trend has stabilized,” Au said.
“Do not be too optimistic because of the high number of cases which may lead to a rebound or upsurge if they relapse,” he added.
Au said that 604,788 positive cases have been detected during the current fifth wave of coronavirus infections.
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In the past week, Kwun Tong saw the highest number of new cases among the city’s 18 districts, accounting for 12.8 percent of new infections, Au said.
Yuen Long came in second with 12.8 percent and Sha Tin was third with 9 percent of new cases, he added.
“In the past week, these three districts have seen the most infection cases. Of course, there are cases in other districts as well,” he said.
Sara Ho Yuen-ha, Hospital Authority chief manager (patient safety and risk management), said in the same briefing that 180 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 died in the last 24 hours.
Medical Supplies From Mainland
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said that, with the full support from the central government, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has procured large quantities of medical supplies, including rapid antigen test (RAT) kits, proprietary Chinese medicines, and personal protective equipment, which are arriving in Hong Kong in batches to cater for various anti-epidemic work.
In collaboration with the task force on supplies from the Chinese mainland led by the Transport and Housing Bureau, the overall transportation capacity of water and land transport, including railway transport, has been enhanced at a number of cross-boundary facilities, the spokesman said in a statement on Thursday night.
The Government Logistics Department has also set up a number of large-scale temporary storage areas (around 140,000 square meters), which has significantly increased Hong Kong's storage capacity and logistical efficiency.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah (center) visits the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals to view the logistics arrangements for supplies delivered to Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)
The task force has so far procured more than 48 million RAT kits from the mainland, over 25 percent of which has been distributed to the Department of Health and other government departments.
The task force is receiving a total of 450,000 boxes of anti-pandemic proprietary Chinese medicines donated by the central government. To allow citizens in need to obtain these proprietary Chinese medicines as soon as possible, 170,000 boxes have been allocated to HAD for distribution to the community through the Link and other organizations.
Over 82 million N95 masks, KN95 masks and surgical masks, and over 8 million of other protective equipment, including protective coveralls, protective gowns, goggles, face shields, shoe covers and surgical/examination gloves, have also been delivered from the mainland.
The spokesman added that more than 800,000 pulse oximeters have been received by the task force so far and most of them have been distributed to the HA.