Hong Kong has recorded zero new COVID-19 infections for the second day in a row, marking the fourth time in eight days that the city’s number of cases has not increased.
Zero new cases were recorded last Monday, last Friday, and yesterday. Since April 12, Hong Kong’s total number of cases has either increased in single-digit increments or stayed static.
The current number of coronavirus cases in Hong Kong remains at 1038, including 1037 confirmed cases and one probable case.
In a statement, the Center for Health Protection urged people to continue social distancing, maintaining strict hygiene, and avoiding all non-essential foreign travel.
The government’s research council also announced today that its Health and Medical Research Fund would be providing HKD111 million in grants to 26 medical studies on COVID-19 at the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The studies are expected to last between one to two years, and will cover the development of vaccines and antivirals; the identification of COVID-19 antibodies in the community; investigation of the properties, characteristics, spread, infection, and effective therapeutic interventions of SARS-CoV-2; and an investigation of the city’s system of early detection, assessment, and response to the outbreak.
“The Government has been supporting specific commissioned research programs to address emergent health threats such as the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 and human swine influenza in 2009. Riding on previous research experience and Hong Kong’s world-class expertise in medical research, the commissioned research studies on COVID-19 should be able to generate timely scientific knowledge and evidence in battling the pandemic,” said Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan.
