Hong Kong logs 21,650 new Covid cases on Thursday

Hong Kong announced 21,650 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, including 8,628 confirmed via nucleic acid tests and another 13,022 via rapid antigen tests.

The new cases took the total number of infections during the fifth wave of the outbreak to 984,000.

Another 289 deaths were reported, including 202 people aged between 20 and 104 who died in public hospitals over the past 24 hours.

Hospital Authority chief manager Lau Ka-hin said starting 7am Friday, citizens will be able to make bookings for the 23 designated Covid clinics on the authority's app "HA Go".

Users will be able to check the vacancies available, to make bookings or to cancel them. In the first phase, only citizens who are registered with the authority or those who used public medical services can use the new function. Other citizens will be covered in the second phase. 

On the other hand, more than 900 preliminary positive cases were identified in lockdowns lifted on Thursday.

At Tip Yee House of Butterfly Estate, Tuen Mun, 218 preliminary positive cases were found alongside 43 indeterminate cases.

Another 224 and 222 preliminary positive cases were identified at Wai Sum House of Sha Tin's Lung Hang Estate and at Tin Wan House of Kwun Tong's Shun Tin Estate.

There were also 109, 61, and 73 cases at Wong Tai Sin's Chuk Yuen South Estate Kwai Yuen House, Tsing Yi's Cheung Hang Estate Hang Yee House, and Tuen Mun's Po Tin Estate block six.

Authorities declared new lockdowns at Sheung Sam House, Lung Hang Estate, Sha Tin; Wu Fai House, Wu King Estate, Tuen Mun; and block five of Po Tin Estate, Tuen Mun.