People pose for a photo at a promenade next to Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on Aug 14, 2022. (BERTHA WANG / AFP)
HONG KONG – The number of new COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong topped 9,000 on Sunday as the Omicron subvariant BA.4 or BA.5 became the new predominant strain in the city.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said at a news briefing that there were 9,708 new cases, including 213 imported infections.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said at a news briefing that there were 9,708 new cases, including 213 imported cases
The last time new cases went above 9,000 was on March 25, when 10,405 infections were reported. There were also 10 reported deaths on Sunday, bringing the city’s toll during the fifth wave to 9,451.
Chuang said that tests conducted on Aug 25 showed that suspected Omicron BA.4 or BA.5 infections comprised 50.5 percent of new cases while the previous prevalent variant BA.2.2 accounted for around 43 percent.
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“So now, the predominant strain is already suspected BA.4 or 5 but we still need to observe for one or a few more days to see the exact trend,” Chuang said.
“The figure of the confirmed cases is still increasing..with a faster rate possibly due to the increasing proportion of BA.5 or Omicron variant,” she said, adding that daily cases were expected to top 10,000 in the “coming days”.
Chuang said the 213 imported cases included 89 that were detected at the airport. Twenty-five came from India, 20 from Thailand, 18 from the Philippines, 16 each from the United Kingdom and the United States, and 11 from Singapore.
Five residential care homes reported six new infections, she added.
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Larry Lee Lap-yip, chief manager (Integrated Clinical Services) of the Hospital Authority, said in the same briefing that the ten COVID patients who passed away included eight men and nine women aged 62 to 99 years old.
However, five of them might have died due to other illnesses and not because of their COVID infection, he added.
Lee said 2,453 COVID patients were being treated in public hospitals as of Sunday, including 339 new patients. Forty-three were in critical condition, including 13 in intensive care, while 41 were in serious condition.
He also said that, because HA resources and manpower had to be redirected to COVID patients, the HA general out-patient clinics would be cutting down or rescheduling some of their medical services.
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