Hong Kong sees 25 imported cases on Christmas, detects three more Omicron cases

Hong Kong reported 25 imported cases on Saturday including karate athlete Lau Chi-ming, marking a new daily highest in months. Three cases involving the Omicron variant have been detected as well.

The imported cases involved 14 men and 11 women aged 21 to 80. Among them 14 were found carrying mutant strains N501Y and T478K; and the L452R mutant strain. Four of them had received three doses of Covid vaccine, while one had received only one dose. The rest had all received two doses of Covid vaccine on the other hand.

They arrived from places like the UK, France, Spain, Canada, the US, Russia, India, Kazakhstan and South Africa.

Five tested positive for Covid at quarantine facilities while the rest tested positive at the airport.

Among the patients, four stayed in Hong Kong during the incubation period. One of the cases involved Lau, who stayed in Hong Kong Sports Institute on Yuen Wo Road in Sha Tin. He left Hong Kong and headed to Kazakhstan via Qatar on December 12. He later returned to the city on December 23 from Korea on flight KE607.

He tested positive at the airport and developed symptoms on Thursday. He carried the N501Y and T478K mutant strains.

The second patient is a 28-year-old karate athlete, who lived at a village house in Ho Pui Tsuen, Pat Heung in Yuen Long. He left Hong Kong and headed to Kazakhstan via Qatar on December 9, and returned to the city with Lau on the same flight.

The third case involved a 79-year-old female patient living at Tower 2, Wing Fai Centre in Fanling. She headed to the UK on December 7 and returned to Hong Kong on Friday on flight CX252. She tested positive at the airport.

The last case involved a 28-year-old female local crew member living at a village house in Tai Mei Tuk Village in Tai Po. She headed to Australia on Wednesday and returned on Friday on flight CX318. She tested positive at the airport and carried the N501Y and T478K mutant strains.

The Centre for Health Protection also reported that they have detected three Omicron cases, including the airport toilet cleaner who triggered the Tuen Mun lockdown on Thursday evening.

So far Hong Kong has reported 44 Omicron cases.

A total of 73 cases have been reported in the past 14 days. One of them is an import-related case, while the rest are imported cases.

Hong Kong's Covid tally now stands at 12,581.