Government workers wearing personal protective equipment stand guard at the restricted area in Jordan district, in Hong Kong on Jan 24, 2021. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 76 new COVID -19 cases on Sunday while more than 60 tested preliminarily positive.
In a media briefing on Sunday afternoon, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s (CHP) communicable disease branch, said that the new cases included 72 local infections and four imported cases involved foreign domestic workers from Indonesia. The city’s tally of confirmed cases rose to 10,085.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s (CHP) communicable disease branch, said that the new cases included 72 local infections and four imported cases involved foreign domestic workers from Indonesia
The local infections included 27 untraceable cases and 45 infections that were linked to previous cases, she added.
In a separate briefing, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said 13 patients were confirmed positive out of the more than 7,000 residents of the "restricted area" in Jordan.
Chan said four cases came from one family, two from another family, and seven from different households.
They were sent to hospitals for isolation while their 20 close contacts were brought to quarantine centers, she added.
Chuang said the confirmed cases from Jordan's restricted area would be included in Monday's tally.
She added that these patients lived in subdivided flats and so those who shared their flats would also be quarantined.
“Because some if not all of the cases are staying in subdivided flats, so we’ll put all those who share those subdivided flats, even if not from the same household, in quarantine as well to minimize the risk of transmission,” Chuang said.
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Chuang appealed to residents of the area who fled before the government announced movement restrictions to have themselves tested.
“I would like to call on them to take compulsory testing as soon as well. If they feel unwell, please go to a doctor as early as possible,” she added.
A 72-year-old male patient, who had a chronic disease, died at 1:40 pm Sunday in a public hospital due to the coronavirus. He was the city 168th fatality linked to the pandemic, according to the Hospital Authority (HA).
There were 776 patients linked to the coronavirus in 24 public hospitals and the AsiaWorld-Expo community treatment facility, including 36 in critical condition and 35 in serious condition, the HA
added.
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