Hong Kong reports highest daily COVID-19 spike since December 19

Hong Kong health authorities confirmed 107 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, marking the highest daily caseload since December 19.

Hong Kong health authorities confirmed 107 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, marking the highest daily caseload since December 19. The authorities revealed that about one in four infections over the past two weeks involved members of ethnic minority communities, many of whom lived in the Yau Ma Tei area, reported South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection's (CHP) communicable disease branch, revealed that all but five of the latest cases were locally transmitted, while 42 were untraceable. Over 50 people had also tested preliminary-positive. He further said that 28 of the new infections were discovered through local testing centres in Yau Ma Tei, while 20 other cases were reported with untraceable sources.

Out of 661 local cases recorded since January 4, about 160 involved residents living in Yau Ma Tei involved members of ethnic minorities, predominantly Nepalese and with some India, according to Cheung. According to SCMP, authorities had issued mandatory testing orders to residents of old residential buildings in the Yau Tsim Mong district last week, after cases emerged in four tenement blocks on Reclamation Street in Jordan.

Earlier on Monday, infectious disease specialist Dr Joseph Tsang Kay-yan said the government should extend the screening order to all residents in the district's Yau Ma Tei and Jordan areas, as well as restaurant staff, retail store workers and food delivery couriers, SCMP further reported. The latest infections pushed the city's overall tally to 9,664, while the death of an elderly patient brought the number of related fatalities to 163. (ANI)