Hong Kong Sees Most Covid Cases Since April Amid Bar Cluster
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong is seeing Covid-19 cases climb again, with the number of new infections at a six-week high amid a growing cluster that originated at a group of nightclubs in the financial hub's Central district.
The city reported 515 cases on Sunday, the most since April 23. More than 200 cases have been linked to the outbreak associated with four bars, thought to have emerged after the latest round of social-distancing curbs were loosened about a week ago. The clusters are most likely to be the predominant BA2.2 strain, the city's health official said. Centralized quarantine is enforced for those carrying non-prevalent BA2.2 sub variants.
The health officials said that although there has been higher case counts in recent days, there's been no change in the number of hospitalizations and serious infections.
The rebound comes after weeks of daily caseloads below 200, and a sense of relief in Hong Kong that the city may finally be through what has been its most lethal and disruptive Covid wave.
The uptick will add to concerns that Hong Kong may backtrack on some of its pandemic easing, particularly as the handover of power from Chief Executive Carrie Lam to her successor, Beijing loyalist John Lee, looms.
Hong Kong has in recent weeks forced patients with even mild infections caused by new omicron sub-variants and their close contacts into government-run isolation, backing away from a practice that has seen most positive people able to quarantine at home over the past few months.
Hong Kong Backpedals on Home Quarantine for Covid Sub-Variants
The backpedaling was criticized by business groups and even a local public health expert. While authorities claimed the move didn't signal a wider change in policy, international chambers of commerce in Hong Kong said it was another blow to the city's already damaged status as a global financial center.
“We will continue to lose international talent and businesses, impacting Hong Kong's competitiveness even further,” said Joseph Armas, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
Read more about the reaction from business groups here.
Ongoing pandemic border curbs remain one of the biggest issues for foreign business and expatriates.
While some of the incoming travel curbs have been eased in recent months, mandatory hotel quarantine is still required for anyone entering Hong Kong, unless they're coming from mainland China. A resurgence in Covid cases may give less of an incentive for authorities to further reduce curbs that are isolating the financial hub.
(Adds comments from health officials in second and third paragraphs)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Talking Points This Week: Leadership Shock At Nvidia, Earnings Strength, And The Fog Over Hormuz
The Anthropic IPO pricing and first trading day, Nvidia's upcoming earnings, and any fresh signals from Iran will set the tone for the following week.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
