Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) reported on Sunday afternoon 44 additional COVID-19 cases confirmed during the past 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong to 317.
Out of the 44 newly diagnosed patients aged between 20 months old and 72 years old, 29 have travel history during the incubation period, including seven students who were studying overseas and an athlete who traveled overseas for training, Head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch Chuang Shuk-kwan said at a daily press briefing.
Among the 15 patients who have no travel history during the incubation period, several have been to Lan Kwai Fong, a famous nightclub zone in Hong Kong's Central district. One had attended a private party and one works at a same secondary school with several previously diagnosed patients.
Some of the new cases are probably related to clustered outbreaks, including a tour group to Canada in which seven members have been infected, and a wedding ceremony of which eight attendees have been diagnosed.
Linda Yu, a chief manager of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority (HA), said at the briefing that as of Sunday noon, four COVID-19 patients have passed away, 100 confirmed cases have been cured and discharged from the hospital, and the rest are being treated in isolation at over 10 hospitals across Hong Kong.
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam announced on Saturday a string of strengthened epidemic-prevention measures to curb the spread of the disease, as many people are expected to return to Hong Kong from overseas amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Noting that Hong Kong is likely to see more community transmissions of the virus in the coming weeks than in any period in the past two months, Lam urged Hong Kong residents to keep social distancing.
At Sunday's briefing, Yu also repeated the HA's appeal on behalf of medical staff to members of the public: "We stay at work for you, you stay at home for us."
