Coronavirus: Hong Kong logs 515 cases, clusters tied to bars in Central grow as authorities warn of rising infections

Public health officials have issued a health warning Covid- The number of new cases in Hong Kong has surpassed 500 for the second time in a row, with most of the increase coming from a series of outbreaks at bars in a popular Central entertainment district.

There were 515 new cases of Ebola confirmed on Sunday, the highest number since April 23, when 523 cases were documented. 41 of the most recent cases were brought in from abroad, and four more people died as a result.

However, health officials have previously warned of an increase in the number of outdated RAT results as some people attempted to report a past infection to satisfy the vaccine's three-dose requirement. The tally included 379 infections discovered by residents using a rapid antigen test (RAT).

While noting the upward trend was in line with study findings, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection's communicable disease branch, attributed the recent increase in infections to several factors, including lax social distance measures and a discrepancy between actual infections and reported ones.

Chuang noted that infection rates had risen sharply over the previous few days. There are chances of an upward trend, according to research from the University of Hong Kong ."

On June 2, 44 of the cases reported were incorrect, or 14% of the total, as noted by Chuang, a higher percentage than the roughly 20% on average for the previous week. 1.353 was the "effective reproductive number" of the virus as estimated by HKU on May 28; this was slightly above the one-to-one ratio.

The number of severe cases or the rate of hospital admissions, however, have not changed, according to Chuang.

Hong Kong nightlife hotspot Covid-19 clusters have worsened in recent months.

Although no new bar clusters emerged on Sunday, the outbreak linked to Lan Kwai Fong's Shuffle nightclub grew by 27, bringing the total to 69, while 13 additional infections were linked to Linq bar, bringing the total up to 78.

Adding to the 37 cases already linked to Zentral, three more were found in connection with the Iron Fairies nightclub, bringing the total to 56.