July 14, 2022
HONG KONG – Hong Kong will enhance COVID-19 testing measures for hospital staff members and patients as the city recorded 3,154 new cases on Wednesday, health authorities said.
Sara Ho, Chief Manager (Patient Safety and Risk Management) of the Hospital Authority, said in a news briefing that staff members dealing with vulnerable patients will have to undergo nucleic acid tests before going to work as the number of admitted COVID patients rose to 1,031, including 160 new patients.
Of the 1,031 admitted COVID-19 patients, 18 are in critical condition, including nine receiving intensive care, while 30 are in serious condition
“There are more confirmed cases in the community. Quite a number of them have an unknown source so we will continue to strengthen testing requirements for patients and staff members,” Ho said.
“The new cases have increased significantly, which is worrying,” she added.
Of the 1,031 admitted patients, 18 are in critical condition, including nine receiving intensive care, while 30 are in serious condition.
Ho said the HA will require patients to take a nucleic acid test before they are discharged to make sure they are not infectious.
She also said that a 102-year-old female patient and 65-year-old male patient passed away, bringing the city’s toll since the fifth wave started to 9,209.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said in the same briefing that the new cases on Wednesday comprised 2,943 local infections and 211 imported cases.
The imported infections included 53 cases from the United Kingdom, 20 from the United States, 12 from Thailand, and 11 from Australia, Chuang said, adding that imported cases accounted for less than 10 percent of infections in Hong Kong.
She said 309 schools reported 387 confirmed cases, involving 314 students and 73 staff members.
Fifty-eight cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, including 40 untraceable infections, were detected while 24 BA.4 or BA.5 cases were found, Chuang added.