Hong Kong reports 291 new COVID-19 cases

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Hong Kong reports 291 new COVID-19 cases

A Star Ferry will dock on May 4, 2022 in Central on Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. PETER PARKS AFP HONG KONG Hong Kong reported 291 new COVID 19 cases on Thursday as health authorities looked into another outbreak in Sheung Wan.

Albert Au, the principal medical and health officer of the Centre for Health Protection, said at a press conference that the new cases included 253 local infections and 38 imported cases.

He said 116 were detected by nucleic acid testing and 175 by rapid antigen testing. Au added that 11 arrivals — five men and six women — were also positive for the BA. 1 Omicron subvariant, while another female traveler tested positive for the BA. ALSO READ: HK to distribute 170,000 RAT kits as a virus in sewage.

Au said that a new cluster was detected at another eatery in Sheung Wan, involving five cases. The patients did not know each other, but four of them attended a course at a training school where another case was found.

They sat in different tables at the eatery on May 13. They started showing mild symptoms between May 15 and 18, Au said.

He said the eatery will undergo a thorough cleansing and those who went there will have to undergo compulsory testing.

Au said that the Sky Cuisine restaurant cluster in Sheung Wan had three new cases, bringing its total to 73 infections. Three other cases were also found in the Imperial Kitchen restaurant cluster in Kwun Tong, which now has 29 infections.

Au stated that 15 students and two teaching staff members reported testing positive for the virus but the cases were not linked.

In the same briefing, Lau Ka-hin, chief manager quality and standards of the Hospital Authority, said that a 91-year-old woman infected with COVID 19 died in the last 24 hours, bringing the toll to 9,153.

Lau said that the woman came from a residential care home and did not have a vaccination record.