Among the 13 deaths of eight men and five women aged 54 to 97, only three received three doses of vaccines, and five never got jabs.

The Coronavirus variant BA.4/5 has become the dominant strain of new infections, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, Head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Center for Health Protection of the Department of Health, accounting for nearly 56.2 percent of all the patients.

Au Ka-wing, the Center for Health Production's principal medical and health officer today tested positive for Covid. He was listed as a close contact of a family member who was previously confirmed infected. The last day Au attended the press conference on daily Covid cases was August 25.

Authorities received reports from 140 schools confirming 319 cases today.

Public hospitals now accommodate 2,585 Covid-19 patients, including 343 newly admitted, 47 in critical conditions, and 45 with severe symptoms.

2,100 of the patients in hospitals are aged above 60, accounting for 80 percent of all the confirmed patients. Over 60 percent of patients reported daily are above 60 years old.

Health officials urged the elderly to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

There were 168 reported violations of the compulsory quarantine rules, and 24 of the violators were issued a fine of HK$10,000 by the Health Department.