Hong Kong confirmed a fresh single-day record of 113 new COVID-19 infections today. The number of locally-transmitted cases - 105 - was also a record daily tally.
Of the local cases, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said it was unable to trace the source of infections in 63 of them. The patients include a kindergarten teacher, a nurse at the private St. Paul's Hospital in Causeway Bay, as well as a cleaner and a cook at an elderly care home in Tai Wai.The rest of the local cases, totalling 42, were linked to previous ones. Twenty-seven patients are family members or friends of known cases.
Of the known clusters, there were four more cases linked to banquets in Mong Kok and Tuen Mun, one linked to a restaurant at a Mong Kok hotel, and a colleague of a salesperson in Diamond Hill.
The CHP also reported eight imported cases, involving those who arrived in Hong Kong from countries including the Philippines, India and the United States.
Officials also confirmed that a pregnant woman who tested positive on Tuesday has given birth via emergency caesarean section.
A chief manager of the Hospital Authority, Linda Yu, said the baby was having breathing difficulties and was being intubated.
Yu said: "According to overseas experience, the [possibility of] transmission to the foetus or baby is low, but we will offer testing for the baby to assess whether the baby is being infected or not, and currently the baby is being isolated separately from the mother."
Meanwhile, CHP spokeswoman Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan noted that recently, some people who have developed symptoms and received COVID-19 tests continued to go out, pending the results.
She again appealed to the public to stay at home to try to prevent the spread of the virus. She also urged those showing symptoms to get tested as soon as possible, but to stay at home while they wait for the results.
Face masks will be made mandatory in all indoor public places – including malls and building lobbies – in Hong Kong from tomorrow as the government steps up measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in Hong Kong, which has confirmed 2,131COVID-19 cases, with 14 deaths.
Macau has reported 46 COVID-19 cases since January 22. All patients have meanwhile been cured and discharged from hospital. Macau has not confirmed a new COVID-19 for 26 days. No local case as been confirmed for 115 days, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced today.
- RTHK, MPD
