Bloomberg — Hong Kong’s number of daily Covid cases dropped to the lowest in almost two months as the city ends a voluntary citywide testing exercise that has uncovered more than 2,000 infections.
Health officials said on Sunday that there were 1,921 new daily cases, 18 of them imported, and 65 virus-related deaths. Residents have reported 2,202 Covid infections via rapid antigen tests distributed to households last week as part of the government’s three-day program, Albert Au, principal medical and health officer at the Department of Health, said at a briefing.
The latest drop in daily cases, the lowest tally since Feb. 15, suggests Hong Kong is staying on course for a recovery from its worst outbreak since the pandemic began. The city, which maintains a Covid Zero strategy to align with China’s policy, hopes mass self-testing will help speed up the process of eliminating the last remaining transmissions as infections fall from a peak of more than 55,000 last month.
Almost 70% of the people who tested positive at home and reported to authorities don’t have symptoms, compared with less than 40% before the three-day campaign began.
Hong Kong Expands Access to Western, Chinese Covid Medicines
If the self-testing campaign doesn’t show a significant increase in infections, officials will be more confident that most social-distancing measures, including a ban on dining-in after 6 p.m., can be gradually relaxed after the Easter holiday. The city’s outgoing Chief Carrie Lam will announce a detailed three-stage plan to ease the current curbs in the coming days, she said at a separate briefing on Sunday.
The chief executive said the relaxation of social-distancing measures that was announced last month and is scheduled for April 21 is unlikely to…
Source : time
