Coronavirus: Hong Kong hits record 351 new infections as officials plan for ‘worst-case scenario’ where patients quarantine at home

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee revealed the record caseload, warning that cross-family and social activities during Lunar New Year would trigger an “exponential” rise in infections and appealed to residents to stay at home.

The latest cases brought the confirmed tally to 15,066, with 213 related deaths. The previous high was set on January 27, with 164 cases. More than 200 preliminary-positive cases were also recorded.

City leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had on Friday said that with quarantine and hospital spaces filling up, asymptomatic patients would be sent to the government’s Penny’s Bay camp while family members of close contacts would isolate at home. The measure would be extended to close contacts at a later stage, she said, without giving a timeline.

But Chan went a step further on Saturday, specifying a worst-case scenario. “If cases continue to increase, we will have to focus the use of community isolation facilities on those patients who particularly need isolation and treatment,” she told a press briefing.

“For general asymptomatic patients, or those with mild symptoms and lower risks, the Hospital Authority will arrange home quarantine for them if the home situation allows it. We are running as fast as we can to compete with the speed of the virus, and therefore everybody’s help is necessary and being called for.”

In a Facebook post, former hospital authority chief Leung Pak-yin warned cases would increase “several times” in the coming days and could even exceed 1,000 a day.

All but eight of Saturday’s confirmed cases were locally transmitted, with 180 already classified as linked to previous infections, and 161 still pending investigation.