No Plans To Tighten Covid Rules Despite Uptick

Health authorities say there are no plans to tighten social distancing measures for now, despite the daily number of new coronavirus infections reaching five-digits for the first time since early September.

Hong Kong recorded 10,137 Covid infections on Thursday, of which 606 were imported. Fifteen more Covid patients have died.

At a press briefing, Albert Au from the Centre for Health Protection said there was an eight percent jump in the number of infections over the past week, with a significant increase in locally acquired cases.

The number of deaths also rose by around 47 percent, Au added.

Despite the uptick in infections, Undersecretary for Health Libby Lee said there isn't a need to tighten Covid rules at present.

"No one, indeed, wants to backtrack. We have to understand the situation clearly. We do not want to not backtrack at the expense of the health of citizens. At this stage, we do not see the need to make adjustments," she said.

"The fact that we have to tighten social distancing measures is not solely due to Covid-19, there are other factors at play. We are not at that stage right now."

She urged people who catch Covid to seek medical assistance as soon as possible.

"We will be very unhappy to see if you know that you are positive, but you delay seeking help from the doctors, and delay taking the drugs, which can actually cure you and shorten your period of sickness," she said.

"Hopefully, patients can actually seek help as early as possible. This is probably one of the reasons why we can see a surge in deaths. People still actually do not like to go to hospitals, do not like to see doctors. This is quite a common phenomenon."

Health authorities also repeated calls for people - particularly the elderly and children - to get inoculated against both Covid-19 and the flu.

The Hospital Authority said three children infected with Covid had to be put in intensive care recently, and that a three-year-old has been critically ill after catching the flu.