CHP Reports 4,274 New Covid Cases

Health authorities reported 4,274 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, including 239 imported infections.

Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said they'd noticed an increase in the number of cases that involve more infectious Omicron sub-variants.

She said about 10 percent of the latest cases were suspected to involve BA.4 or BA.5, while the average in the past week was 7.3 percent.

Around 7.4 percent of cases involved another sub-variant, BA.2.12.1, were around 7.4 percent, Chuang added.

"Taking reference from the WHO, Singapore and other places, we understand that there's a growth advantage of BA.5 over other sub-variants. So we can't exclude the possibility that the proportion of BA.5 will further increase and it will become the circulating strain in Hong Kong," she said.

But Chuang said vaccines that are available in Hong Kong can reduce the chance of developing severe illnesses and death. She again urged people to get vaccinated.

There have been five additional deaths involving patients aged 65 to 94, all of whom had chronic illnesses.

There are now 1,485 Covid patients in public hospitals, 162 of whom are newly admitted. Seven are in intensive care.

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