(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong reported 25 confirmed local Covid infections on Saturday, the most since at least March, and 100 preliminary positive cases as officials try to contain an outbreak at a public housing estate.
Most of the preliminary positive cases were found at the public housing complex in the New Territories, where more than 2,500 residents have been locked down for five days and are tested every day. Two employees at a local public hospital and one worker at a care center also tested preliminary positive.
The government will expand the five-day lockdown at one apartment block in the public housing estate, after finding at least eight preliminary cases there, Chief Executive Officer Carrie Lam told reporters at a press conference on Saturday. All residents from another four buildings in the complex will be prohibited from leaving and required to do regular testing, while residents at the remaining 11 blocks will need to do mandatory screening.
Lam urged Hong Kong residents to stay at home and avoid gatherings, in particular children and older people. She said the city’s vaccination rate is 77.5%, which is still not high enough and puts the health of elderly at risk. The city will stick to it current zero-Covid strategy, Lam said.
Read more: Rising Cases Spark Covid Superspreader Fears in Hong Kong (1)
The city is battling new waves of infections from both the omicron and delta variants of the virus, with daily case counts rising, three weeks after it last reported zero. The outbreak in the housing estate and traces of the virus found in sewage has led to mass testing at dozens of apartment blocks, involving thousands of people. A total of 105 residents at the public housing estate has been affected with the omicron variant.
(Updates with chief executive’s comments in fourth paragraph.)
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