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James Modesto

Fourteen patients and a staff member in a geriatric ward of a Hong Kong public hospital have tested positive for Covid-19.
The Hospital Authority said on Thursday that the patients, 12 men and two women aged between 33 and 88, in Ruttonjee Hospital’s geriatric infirmary ward had a fever and other symptoms. The group tested positive for the virus on June 27.
An employee stationed in the ward was also infected. His symptoms included fever and coughing. All patients are in a stable condition and receiving treatment in isolation.
Admission to the ward in the Wan Chai hospital is currently suspended with visits restricted. It has also been cleaned thoroughly, with strict infection control measures in place.
While Hong Kong has resumed normal operations after the three-year pandemic from 2020 to 2023, Covid-19 clusters are reported in local hospitals from time to time.
Last November, Kowloon Hospital reported that 14 patients in a male psychiatric ward had contracted the coronavirus. Ten patients in a Kwai Chung Hospital ward also tested positive for Covid-19 in January this year.
Overall local activity of Covid-19 remains at a low level despite a small rise in various indicators, according to the latest data from the Centre for Health Protection.
A weekly report released by the centre on Thursday showed that there was a slight increase in respiratory specimens handled by public laboratories that tested positive for the coronavirus, at 302 in the final week of June, up from 243 the previous week.
In those same weeks, the number of severe cases, including fatal ones, increased from six to 11.
Sewage surveillance showed that viral load of the coronavirus had also increased to around 99,000 units in the last week of June, nearly triple the 38,000 units in the previous week.
Hong Kong is also in the midst of a protracted flu season which began in January.
While the overall flu activity was similar to the second last week of June, the rate of public hospital admissions associated with the infection remained higher than the baseline.
Data showed that the rate was 0.33 per 10,000 individuals in the last week of June, lower than previous week’s 0.47, but was still above the baseline threshold of 0.25 which indicated the presence of a flu season.


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Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Health authorities say 12 men and two women at Ruttonjee Hospital tested positive for virus on June 27


Health authorities say 12 men and two women at Ruttonjee Hospital tested positive for virus on June 27.


Coronavirus Hong Kong