(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) 237 more cases in Hong Kong and 8 more designated clinics will be closed
China News Agency, Hong Kong, May 22 (Reporter Han Xingtong) The Center for Health Protection of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Department of Health held a briefing on the epidemic on the 22nd and announced that as of 0:00 that day, there were 237 new positive cases of the new coronavirus in Hong Kong.
As the outbreak eases, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HA) has announced that eight more designated clinics will be closed.
Of the 237 new cases, 94 were positive for nucleic acid testing and 143 were positive for rapid testing.
Of the new cases, 25 are imported cases, and the rest are local cases.
The fifth wave of the epidemic has recorded more than 1.1977 million cases so far.
In the past 24 hours, there have been no new deaths, and the cumulative death toll in the fifth wave of the epidemic remains at 9,157.
Earlier, a couple who arrived in Hong Kong from the United States were diagnosed with the virus BA.2.12.1 after completing the quarantine at the quarantine hotel "Lan Kwai Fong Hotel @ Jiuru Fang". The place they visited has been confirmed. Included in the mandatory testing announcement, the 64-year-old wife visited a McDonald's in Taikoo Shing.
Au Jiarong, the chief doctor of the Infectious Diseases Division of the Centre for Health Protection, announced at the briefing on the epidemic that three members of a family had also visited at the same time, and were subsequently diagnosed, involving a 41-year-old mother and 8- and 9-year-old students.
At this stage, it has not been determined whether the three cases are related to the 64-year-old woman, and the results of full genetic analysis are still pending.
Ou Jiarong believes that the current trend of the epidemic is stable, with an average of about 200 cases per day in the past 7 days. The epidemic has not shown a rebound trend for the time being, and it has shown a slight decline in the past few days, but it is still necessary to observe whether the downward trend is sustainable.
With the easing of the epidemic, the HA announced on the same day that eight more designated clinics under its jurisdiction will cease to operate from May 23, and the general outpatient clinic services of these eight designated clinics will be resumed from May 24.
The Hospital Authority announced that as of 5:00 pm on the 21st, the designated clinics of the Hospital Authority have provided doctor consultation services for more than 123,400 people, of which more than 17,600 are patients with higher risk confirmed by the "Care Appointment Hotline".
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