Coronavirus: Hong Kong logs 12 new cases, while officials aim to lower age threshold for jabs under government scheme to 16
- Official in charge of citywide vaccination drive hopes to soon reduce the minimum age for getting the jab from 30 to 16
- Patrick Nip urges Hongkongers to use up existing supplies so more doses can arrive in the city
Four of the latest cases were locally transmitted, of which one was untraceable. The remaining eight infections were imported from France, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines. All but one of the infected people carried a mutant strain of the coronavirus, taking the total number of cases of variant strains identified in Hong Kong to 113. Fewer than 10 people tested preliminary-positive.
The sole unlinked case was an 88-year-old retiree who lives in Ping Tin Estate, Lam Tin. He visited Chiu Fook Cuisine, a restaurant in Kai Tin Shopping Centre, where two infected people had previously eaten. But health authorities stopped short of declaring an outbreak at the restaurant.
“We still have not yet confirmed any outbreak concerning the restaurant. [In total] there are three cases who have reportedly visited this restaurant. Two of them had contact with each other,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection at a press briefing on Monday. “We’re still investigating whether there’s any relation between [the 88-year-old man] and the other two previous cases.”
Three of the local cases were tied to a superspreading cluster linked to the Ursus Fitness gym, taking the size of the outbreak to 150.
The city’s tally of confirmed infections stood at 11,409, while the death of an 89-year-old man with chronic disease at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the afternoon pushed the number of related fatalities to 204.
According to Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, the government is considering reducing the minimum age – currently 30 – at which residents are entitled to get vaccinated in a bid to boost the city’s drive towards achieving herd immunity.
