Hong Kong reported 36 more coronavirus infections Tuesday, down from 44 yesterday. The sole imported case involved a Filipino domestic helper.
One more person has succumbed to the disease, bringing the total number of virus-related deaths in the city to 70. A 95-year-old man who lived at a nursing home in Sham Shui Po passed away just before 6am today, authorities said.
Referring to the case of a 33-year-old man who tested positive yesterday after being diagnosed with the disease back in April, University of Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung said it is likely that he was re-infected during a recent trip to Spain.
According to the results of a CT scan, the man has a high viral load, suggesting that this could be a case of re-infection rather than remnants of the virus remaining in the system.
Authorities also said that there are around 20 preliminary positive infections.
Of the new patients who have tested positive, just six are cases with no identified source of transmission—representing a steady decrease in the number of infections of unknown origin.
In the early days of the city’s third COVID-19 wave, half, or even majority, of daily cases constituted patients whose infections could not be traced.
Yesterday, the government announced an extension to public health restrictions including the ban on dining in at restaurants after 6pm and mandatory mask-wearing in public places. The measures will remain in place until August 25.
“Despite the fact that the number of daily new cases has come down from its peak in late July, it remains at a high level with the seven-day average still higher than the peak of the second wave in March/April 2020,” a statement read.
A cluster of over 60 positive cases at Kwai Tsing Container Terminals has also sparked concern the virus spreading in crowded worker dormitories. One more worker tested positive for the virus, authorities said today.
In light of the large number of infections at the worksite, authorities have distributed around 8,000 testing bottles to workers there and so far have received 2,600 back.
The city has recorded over 4,560 COVID-19 cases to date.
