HK Covid caseload steady but school infections spike

By The SUN 

Among the new cases were 888 reported by schools, involving mostly students

Health authorities reported 3,436 new Covid cases on Monday, which was nearly the same level as yesterday.

Of the new cases, 254 were imported; and among the local infections, 888 had come from schools. The cases involved 751 students and 137 teachers and staff.

However, the unusually high number was due to an accumulation of positive results detected during the weekend when there were no classes.

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Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said at today’s press briefing that among the new cases were several linked to a school bus route at St Catherine's International Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong.

Chuang said dozens of children at the school have been put under quarantine due to the widening outbreak linked to the No 18 bus route. 

Four more students who took the bus in the mornings tested positive today. They included two in a nursery class, where another pupil who did not take the bus also fell ill, indicating that the virus had spread within the classroom. This class has been suspended for a week.

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In another class that has also been suspended, a teacher who took the bus fell ill, and was followed by two of her students. 

The school has since replaced the bus with a new one.

Seven other schools have classes that have been suspended for a week after two or more infections were detected in each.

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Dr Larry Lee of the Hospital Authority reported three new deaths, involving a man and two women aged between 58 and 101. This raised the death toll in the fifth wave to 9,227.

Lee said a total of 1,182 Covid patients are receiving treatment in public hospitals, including 149 new admissions.

Among them, 17 are in critical condition, 38 are in serious condition, and four of those critically ill are in hospital intensive care units.

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The outbreaks in some hospitals continue to widen. Three more staff in the medical ward of North District Hospital were confirmed, raising the total infections there to four patients and six staff members.

At Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital, three elderly patients aged 85 to 95 also tested positive. There are now 13 patients and five medical staff in the hospital who have been infected, but they are all in stable condition.

Newly discovered cases involving the more infectious Omicron sub-variant were also reported.

According to Chuang, 82 cases of the BA.2.12.1 sub-variant were found during genome sequencing, and 30 additional cases of the BA.4 or BA.5 subvariants.

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