Hong Kong recorded its 16th coronavirus-related death on Friday, as health authorities confirmed a record high of 123 Covid-19 infections, marking the third day in a row with more than 100 new cases.
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said today that 115 of Friday’s total were local cases, 62 of which were linked to previous infections, while 53 were without a known source.
Eight cases were imported, including seafarers from the Philippines and India, as well as returnees from India and Pakistan. The new cases took the city’s infection tally to 2,371.
The city saw a previous daily high of 118 new infections on Thursday.
Chuang, urging residents to try to stay at home, said about half of the new cases were from unknown sources, and many of those infected were housewives and the elderly who only went out to shop at markets and eat at restaurants.
Hong Kong has been left grappling with a possible new threat of infections from six cargo ships in its waters, all of which had infected crew on board.
More than 100 maritime workers are stuck aboard their vessels undergoing quarantine after six seamen, one from each of the six ships, tested positive for the virus, raising concerns that outbreaks aboard ships heading into one of the busiest ports in Asia could overwhelm local hospitals.
The government was also forced to clarify on Facebook on Friday afternoon that it had no plans to implement a complete lockdown for seven days next week after fake news circulated on social media platforms.
(SCMP/Macau News)
