Coronavirus Hong Kong: ‘thousands’ of residents notify authorities of past infections, another 3,254 cases logged
- Officials say they receive thousands of emails every day from residents who missed previous deadline to log past Covid-19 infection
- Health officials reported 3,254 cases on Tuesday, a slight increase from the 3,138 infections logged a day earlier
Hong Kong authorities are still receiving thousands of emails every day from residents who missed a previous deadline to log their Covid-19 infection uncovered using rapid antigen tests, officials have said, revealing the extent of the city’s fifth wave.
Health officials reported 3,254 cases on Tuesday, a slight increase from the 3,138 infections logged a day earlier, and 87 Covid-related deaths. The overall tally of infections stood at 1,177,814, with 8,349 deaths.
The daily figures included cases from a self-reporting system launched on March 7. The system accepts only rapid antigen test (RAT) results conducted within 48 hours. Those infected between February 26 and March 5 were given a one-week registration window, which closed on March 14. But people were still filing results that missed that deadline as well as ones that should have been uploaded within 48 hours of the results, officials say.
Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, a principal medical and health officer at the Centre for Health Protection, said people who tested positive on RATs at home should upload their results and fill out their personal details on the online system as soon as possible.
“The leniency period to submit positive infections using RAT has already passed and we get over several thousand emails per day requesting us to issue a quarantine order or other documents,” Au said.
