Pedestrians wearing protective masks cross Hennessy Road in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on May 1, 2020. (ROY LIU / BLOOMBERG)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong on Saturday reported no new COVID-19 cases as health authorities urged residents to avoid non-essential travel outside the city, even if they had already been vaccinated, to avoid "breakthrough infections".
In a statement, the Centre for Health Protection noted that “many recent imported cases” involved residents who “joined non-essential travel” outside Hong Kong after they got inoculated.
The Centre for Health Protection noted that “many recent imported cases” involved residents who “joined non-essential travel” after they got inoculated
"The global situation of COVID-19 infection remains severe and there is a continuous increase in the number of cases involving mutant strains that carry higher transmissibility, and there are also reports of breakthrough infections in some vaccinated individuals,” the CHP said.
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It strongly urged members of the public to avoid all non-essential travel outside the city, in particular to specified places considered “extremely high risk” and “very high risk” under the Prevention and Control of Disease Regulation.
"If travel is unavoidable, the CHP highly recommended the public to be fully vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines before their departure,” a CHP spokesman said.
“They should continue to wear a surgical mask and maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene at all times. Parents are also urged to avoid taking unvaccinated children travelling," he added
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The city’s tally of confirmed cases stood at 11,984 as of Saturday. From July 17 to 30, Hong kong reported 28 infections, all of them imported.