By The SUN
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| Failing to comply with mandatory testing could make you liable to pay a $25 fine |
Health officials have reported 6,981 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the lowest since Feb 23 and the fifth consecutive day that the infection rate had fallen to four digits.
But as the number of cases comes down, authorities moved to toughen punishment for people who refuse to comply with compulsory testing notices, usually issued for residents in buildings where the virus is found in the sewage, or a cluster of cases are detected.
From tomorrow, the former $10,000 fine will be more than doubled to $25,000 with a jail sentence of up to six months.
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Parents who are deemed not to have used their “best endeavours” to ensure compliance by their children of forced testing, could likewise be punished.
Those who refuse to follow quarantine or isolation orders could also be fined up to $10,000 and jailed for half a year.
Health officials say the stricter enforcement rules, approved by the Legislative Council Tuesday night, are being taken to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
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Meanwhile, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said at the daily press conference this afternoon that of the newly confirmed cases, 2,994 were confirmed through PCR tests, and the remaining 3,987 from rapid antigen tests.
They took the city’s infection tally in the Omicron outbreak to more than 1.13 million.
Dr Sara Ho of the Hospital Authority reported 135 deaths linked to Covid-19, pushing the fatality toll in the fifth wave of the pandemic to 7,493.
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But she told a reporter that a 12-month-old baby who died at Caritas Medical Centre this morning after lapsing into a coma at his home in Cheung Sha Wan did not appear to be coronavirus case.
The infant tested negative for the coronavirus on a rapid antigen test. His case will be referred to the coroner for further investigation.
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| The baby who was declared dead at Caritas Medical Centre tested negative for Covid-19 |
Ho said among the newly added cases today were 117 recorded in public hospitals in the past 24 hours, involving 71 men and 46 women aged 41 to 105. The remaining 18 others tested positive between Feb 25 and Mar 28 but their deaths were not reported on time.
Among the relatively young fatalities was a 41-year-old man who had a record of drug abuse and had burst a vein in his thigh, resulting to massive bleeding.
His death was not likely the result of Covid-19 although he tested positive on Mar 13 and was admitted to hospital on Mar 28 due to an unrelated skin condition.
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Another younger fatality was a 45-year-old with late-stage cancer that had spread, a 52-year-old man with kidney failure, and a 58-year-old man who also had cancer.
Ho said 10,702 patients are still undergoing treatment at public hospitals and infection control centres. Among them, 22 are in critical condition, 45 are in serious condition and 89 patients in critical condition are in intensive care.
There were 1,469 patients who recovered and discharged as of midnight last night.
Chuang said no new case was reported from residential care homes although this was not unusual as most of the facilities already had outbreaks earlier.
