Hong Kong reported 140 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, the highest daily number in more than a year, with about three quarters of the locally sourced cases linked to an outbreak at a high-rise housing estate.
Of the 125 new community-transmitted infections, 94 are related to a cluster at a public housing estate in Kwai Chung, New Territories, where residents of two apartment blocks have been locked down for five days and are tested daily, the city’s authorities said at a press conference. Four of the new cases are of unknown origin.
More than 100 people had tested preliminary positive for the virus, government officials said.
The sudden surge in case numbers has unnerved Hong Kong authorities, who hadn’t reported any local transmissions for more than seven months through late December. The city is now battling new waves of infections from both the omicron and delta variants of the virus.
The latest tally for infections is the largest daily figure since July 30, 2020 when Hong Kong had 149 imported and local cases.
Even a limited lockdowns and restrictions on movement create a heavy toll for residents in the densely populated city, which has some of the smallest living spaces in the world. The average apartment size is about 500 square feet. Flats in public estates, such as the one that is currently under lockdown, are usually smaller in size.
Hong Kong has shut schools, banned flight routes, ended indoor restaurant dining after 6 p.m. and closed gyms and beauty parlors since the emergence of omicron in the past weeks.
