Hong Kong Reports More Than 800 New Covid Cases For Second Day

Hong Kong on Sunday reported more than 800 new Covid infections for the second straight day, and authorities warned that numbers could continue to rise with the easing of social restrictions and travel curbs.

Health authorities said at a briefing that 106 of the 814 new cases were imported. Of the total, 364 were detected through nucleic acid tests and 450 via rapid antigen tests. No new deaths were reported.

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While the daily case count declined slightly from the 851 reported on Saturday, it remains at an elevated level after fewer than 400 daily cases were recorded throughout the whole of last month. Health officials said they can't rule out a further increase with the easing in recent months after some social-distancing measures and travel curbs.

'With more people out and about there is a risk they can be infected, and that may be the reason for the higher caseload,” the Department of Health's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said.

More than 230 infections have been found in clusters from cafes in the city's popular Central district this month. On Saturday, 18 cases were reported from Racks City in Wyndham Street and 13 from a venue called FLM in Soho. On Sunday, a further four were logged from FLM, while no more have been recorded from an earlier group. 

Of the new cases reported Sunday, 16 were found to be the BA.2.12.1 sub-variant, the authorities said

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