By Daisy CL Mandap
The 9-year-old boy tested positive after being taken to United Christian Hospital unconscious
A
staggering 17,269 Covid-19 cases were reported over the past 24 hours,
according to Hong Kong health officials.
However,
only 8,798 cases could be confirmed in time for Thursday’s press conference,
which is still the highest on record.
According
to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection, only three of the
cases were imported while the rest were all locally acquired.
Nineteen
carried the Delta variant while the rest are likely Omicron cases or the test
result has yet to come out or could not be determined.
A record
tally of 50 deaths was also reported, comprising 35 men and 15 women who were
all either elderly or suffered from serious ailments. Only six of them had two
doses of a vaccine, while two each had one dose.
He also
said there were 17 additional deaths that happened on Feb 21 and 22 and were
not reported on time. They comprised 15 males and two females aged 68 to 93.
Apart from
these patients, a nine-year-old boy who passed away at United Christian
Hospital this morning will be listed
tomorrow as among the Covid-19 fatalities after he tested positive prior to
admission.
Dr Lau
Ka-hin of the Hospital Authority said the boy had suffered from a genetic
muscular disease since age 3 but was otherwise healthy. He collapsed at home Wednesday
night and was rushed to hospital unconscious. Efforts to revive him failed.
“The
parents told us the patient had some tiredness and a decrease in appetite. But there
was no other respiratory tract infection symptoms, no fever, no convulsion,” he
said.
In line
with hospital policy he was tested for Covid-19 and was found positive. He did
not have any vaccine dose.
Dr Lau
said that since the boy passed away shortly after admission to hospital the
case has been passed on to the coroner to ascertain the cause of death.
He was the
fourth child with Covid-19 to pass away in the past few days. The others were a
four-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl and an 11-month-old baby girl.
Separately
Dr Lau confirmed reports that a four-year-old boy who developed a fever last
night and tested positive on a rapid test was taken comatose to Yan Chai
hospital at 1am.
“But upon
admission he was stable,” he said. The boy had no vaccination.
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| More than 1,400 patients with mild or no symptoms are in isolation at Penny's Bay |
From
tomorrow, he said the 300-bed Tin Shui Wai Hospital will be converted into a
Covid hospital. Its accident and emergency department will only accept Covid
patients.
Its
existing patients who are not infected with Covid-19 will be gradually moved to
Tuen Mun Hospital.
He also said
that following the HA’s appeal, Baptist Hospital in Kowloon Tong has agreed to
set aside 12 beds for Non-Covid patients who are staying in public hospitals in
the West Kowloon cluster.
Earlier,
St Paul’s Hospital in Causeway Bay agreed to take in 20 non-Covid patients from
public hospitals in the Hong Kong East cluster.
Dr Lau
said he hoped more private hospitals would follow suit, and help the HA cope
with the mounting number of Covid-19 patients that need medical care.
He also
aired an appeal for patients not to flock to Kwong Wah Hospital and Queen Elizabeth
Hospital as both are reporting long waits in their respective emergency rooms.
He said those
who test positive on a rapid antigen test should undergo a PCR test to confirm
a result. If they test positive again, they should go to any of the nine
designated clinics for medical consultation.
Only those
who are very ill should be taken to hospital. Those who are experiencing mild
or no symptoms are referred to an isolation facility or told to go back home
and isolate for 14 days.
“Do not call an ambulance to take them to the
hospital” he said, adding that 30% of calls made to the Fire Department are
from asymptomatic people.
Dr Lau said
1,688 hospital staff have come down with Covid. If they test negative on the 7th
day using the rapid antigen test, they are obliged to call the department in
charge so they can go back the work.
He
deflected questions on whether this would put patients at risk, saying 98% of
all health care workers are vaccinated. They must also test negative before
each shift to make sure they won’t be spreading the virus to patients and other
people.
Undersecretary
for Food and Health Dr Chui Tak-yi opened the press conference by saying more than 60,000
cases have been reported so far in the fifth wave of the pandemic.
He also reminded
people that the more stringent social distancing measures came into effect
today, as well as the vaccine pass scheme that allows only vaccinated people to
enter restaurants and other mass venues such as supermarkets and malls.
He again reminded people to get vaccinated and stay at home as much as possible.
