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Saturday, Feb 22, 2025
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Sudden growth in bar clusters rings alert as HK sees 446 Covid cases
Health authorities were alerted by the sudden growth seen in two bar clusters in Central as Hong Kong reported 446 new Covid-19 cases without any death on Saturday.
Among the cases, 176 were confirmed via PCR tests and 270 were self-declared positive rapid antigen tests. The overall caseload of the fifth wave now stands at 1,202,007, Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection reported.
She added 64 imported cases, including 30 detected at the airport, 24 reported at quarantine hotels and 10 identified in local communities after they completed the seven-day isolation.
Two bars -- ZENTRAL and Iron Fairies & J. Boroski – reported two and three new infections respectively. The cluster at ZENTRAL involved 18 men and 17 women aged between 17 and 30, while that at Iron Fairies & J. Boroski saw 31 women and 22 men aged 18 to 58 caught Covid. Only two of the 53 patients were staffers and the rest were all customers.
On the other hand, LINQ added 44 new cases in one day to 65 cases in total, involving 40 men and 25 women aged between 18 and 41.
The fourth Covid-hit bar -- Shuffle in Lan Kwai Fong also reported 28 new infections. So far, the bar reported 42 cases altogether, including 28 women and 14 men.
When asked about the sudden increase in cases reported by the bars, Chuang answered that health authorities have yet to retrieve patients' residential addresses. Yet, she noted that if the patients were suspected of carrying the contagious Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, places they had visited before would be listed in the compulsory testing notice.
Chuang went on and said more cases could be expected following a new round of compulsory testing targeting people who had been to the bars.
Chuang also reported that three more schools were hit by Covid. They were Christian & Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Primary School, HKSPC Operation Santa Claus Fanling Nursery School and HKBU Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary and Primary School.
Hospital Authority's chief manager Gladys Kwan Wai-man didn't report any newly added death on Saturday. The city's death tally stayed at 9,168.
Public hospitals and treatment facilities are now housing 351 patients. Among them, 12 are in critical condition, seven in serious condition and six are staying hospitals' intensive care units.
In the past 24 hours, 36 more patients recovered from Covid and 25 of them were discharged. From 2020 until now, a total of 62,838 patients have recovered from Covid and 62,485 of them have been discharged.
She added 64 imported cases, including 30 detected at the airport, 24 reported at quarantine hotels and 10 identified in local communities after they completed the seven-day isolation.
Two bars -- ZENTRAL and Iron Fairies & J. Boroski – reported two and three new infections respectively. The cluster at ZENTRAL involved 18 men and 17 women aged between 17 and 30, while that at Iron Fairies & J. Boroski saw 31 women and 22 men aged 18 to 58 caught Covid. Only two of the 53 patients were staffers and the rest were all customers.
On the other hand, LINQ added 44 new cases in one day to 65 cases in total, involving 40 men and 25 women aged between 18 and 41.
The fourth Covid-hit bar -- Shuffle in Lan Kwai Fong also reported 28 new infections. So far, the bar reported 42 cases altogether, including 28 women and 14 men.
When asked about the sudden increase in cases reported by the bars, Chuang answered that health authorities have yet to retrieve patients' residential addresses. Yet, she noted that if the patients were suspected of carrying the contagious Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, places they had visited before would be listed in the compulsory testing notice.
Chuang went on and said more cases could be expected following a new round of compulsory testing targeting people who had been to the bars.
Chuang also reported that three more schools were hit by Covid. They were Christian & Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Primary School, HKSPC Operation Santa Claus Fanling Nursery School and HKBU Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary and Primary School.
Hospital Authority's chief manager Gladys Kwan Wai-man didn't report any newly added death on Saturday. The city's death tally stayed at 9,168.
Public hospitals and treatment facilities are now housing 351 patients. Among them, 12 are in critical condition, seven in serious condition and six are staying hospitals' intensive care units.
In the past 24 hours, 36 more patients recovered from Covid and 25 of them were discharged. From 2020 until now, a total of 62,838 patients have recovered from Covid and 62,485 of them have been discharged.
