A resident walks in the Tseung Kwan O district of Hong Kong amid stormy weather due to Tropical Storm Mulan on August 9, 2022. Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection's communicable disease branch, said at a news conference that the new cases comprised 249 imported infections and 4,344 local cases.
She added that there were four new elderly deaths, bringing the city s death toll to 9,341 during the fifth wave.
Of the 249 imported infections, 133 were detected at the airport, 106 in quarantine hotels and 30 after quarantine, Chuang said.
Forty-five came from the United Kingdom, 22 from the Philippines, 19 from India and the United States, 16 from Singapore and Thailand and 14 from Nepal. She said that the rest were from 40 other countries.
Chuang said that the infections involving the Omicron subvariant BA were caused by the infections. The new cases of 5 comprised 13.1 percent of the new cases, while 7.5 percent were BA. There are 1 infections.
She said 214 schools reported the infection of 211 students and 66 staff members. In four schools in Sai Kung, Kwun Tong, Kowloon City, and Sha Tin had to suspend some in-person classes due to infections.
She added that three residential care homes for the elderly and two for persons with disabilities had confirmed new cases.
In the same briefing, Gladys Kwan, Chief Manager Clinical Effectiveness and Technology Management of the Hospital Authority, said two doctors, a nurse and a patient care assistant, tested positive at the hematology and oncology ward of Hong Kong Children's Hospital. Some of them had treated a COVID patient in early July.
Kwan said we are still investigating possible connections because we have a lot of infections in the community.
She said the four patients who passed away included three men and a woman aged 61 to 87. They had also been affected by chronic illnesses like hypertension, diabetes, and renal disease.
Kwan urged elderly patients who test positive for COVID to avail of the HA telemedicine service, noting that it had already provided services to 3,000 residents.
As of Wednesday, 1,516 COVID patients were being treated in public hospitals, including 201 new patients, Kwan said.
READ MORE: HK logs 4,123 new cases, suspends classes at the nursery school.
She added that 23 were in critical condition, including six in intensive care units, while 25 were in serious condition.