Self-tests Help Find More Asymptomatic Cases: CHP

Health authorities said on Saturday that an increase in new coronavirus cases detected through self-tests showed that people had heeded the government's calls to test themselves, but gave reassurances that daily infections are still trending downwards.

It came as the territory reported a slight jump in new Covid infections to 2,535, including 897 confirmed via PCR tests.

Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said the remaining 1,638 were reported by people who underwent rapid self-tests, compared to 1,265 detected the day before.

She noted that recent analysis showed more than two-thirds of self-reported test results had been from symptomatic patients, but the figure collected after the voluntary at-home exercise kicked off showed a drastic change.

"The proportion of asymptomatic cases [reported by people] yesterday is around 70 percent. This reflects quite a proportion of asymptomatic patients who tested themselves and found they were positive, so we have found some asymptomatic cases in the community," she said.

Thirteen of the latest cases were imported - nine of which arrived in the SAR on Friday, including six who all arrived on Cathay Pacific flight CX798 from Indonesia.

The Hospital Authority reported 62 more deaths, including 53 who had passed away at public hospitals in the past day.

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