TOPLINE
- 14,373 new cases [3,653 cases by nucleic acid tests (652 imported + 3,001 locally acquired); 10,720 cases by rapid antigen tests (146 imported + 10,574 locally acquired)]
- As at Dec 8, 276, 798, 2,542 and 6,662 received their first, second, third and fourth dose of vaccine respectively; a cumulative total of 20,069,776 doses have been administered
- Starting from December 9, persons infected with COVID-19 may be discharged from isolation on Day 5 at the earliest if they obtain negative rapid antigen test results on both Day 4 and Day 5 of the isolation period
- Government maintains existing social distancing measures
- new cases tested positive by nucleic acid tests: 3,653 (652 imported + 3,001 locally acquired)
- total cases tested positive by nucleic acid tests: 1,076,153
- new cases tested positive by rapid antigen tests: 10,720 (146 imported + 10,574 locally acquired)
- total cases tested positive by rapid antigen tests: 1,127,637
- deaths: 10,891 [during the fifth wave (since December 31, 2021): 10,678]
14-day rolling sitrep of new cases (most recent figure first, in bracket: “local cases / imported cases”)
- 14,373 ( 13,575 / 798 ); 11,981 ( 11,278 / 703 ); 9,952 ( 9,227 / 725 ); 9,508 ( 8,843 / 665 ); 9,487 ( 8,830 / 657 ); 10,111 ( 9,614 / 497 ); 9,996 ( 9,359 / 637 ); 10,137 ( 9,531 / 606 ); 8,810 ( 8,153 / 657 ); 7,547 ( 6,957 / 590 ); 7,793 ( 7,188 / 605 ); 8,033 ( 7,530 / 503 ); 8,874 ( 8,365 / 509 ); 8,878 ( 8,316 / 562 )
Provisional analysis of the first 10,648 reported death cases in the 5th wave:
- Vaccination history
- Received 4 doses (reached 14 days): 0.5%
- Received 3 doses (reached 14 days): 6%
- Received 2 doses (reached 14 days): 13%
- Received 1 dose (reached 14 days): 14%
- Unvaccinated: 66%
- Over 95% fatal cases were elderly aged 60 years or above; 50% were residential care home residents; 91% were with known chronic diseases
- Receiving 3 doses of any vaccines greatly reduces death risk especially in the older age group
- As at Dec 8:
* 276 persons received their first dose of vaccine; a cumulative total of 6,902,737 persons have received their first vaccine dose, making up 94.5% of the population aged 3 or above
* 798 persons received their second dose of vaccine; a cumulative total of 6,775,219 persons have received their second vaccine dose, making up 92.9% of the population aged 3 or above
* 2,542 persons received their third dose of vaccine; a cumulative total of 5,752,673 persons have received their third vaccine dose, making up 82.7% of the population aged 12 or above
* 6,662 persons received their fourth dose of vaccine; a cumulative total of 639,147 persons have received their fourth vaccine dose
- a total of 20,069,776 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered for members of the public
Starting from December 9, persons infected with COVID-19 may be discharged from isolation on Day 5 at the earliest if they obtain negative rapid antigen test (RAT) results on both Day 4 and Day 5 of the isolation period. For close contacts of infected persons, they will be discharged from quarantine on Day 5 if negative results are obtained in all the daily RATs during the five-day quarantine period, and are not required to undergo further tests. Daily RAT requirement for inbound persons from Taiwan or overseas places is also adjusted to until Day 5 after arrival at Hong Kong.
Latest inbound control arrangement for foreign domestic helpersStarting from December 9, foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) coming to work in Hong Kong on or after December 2 are only required to undergo daily RATs until Day 5 after arrival. The testing requirement of undergoing nucleic acid test upon arrival and on Day 2 after arrival remains unchanged. In view of the conditions of individual families, the Commissioner for Labour has given in-principle approval for employers to choose to arrange FDHs to stay at licensed hotels or guesthouses during those five days. It is not necessary to make an application to the LD.
Government maintains existing social distancing measures- The existing social distancing measures which are set to expire on December 14 will be maintained until December 28.
- Having balanced the aforementioned public health risks and the need for social and economic activities, the Government considered that there is no room for relaxing the social distancing measures at this juncture and decided to maintain the existing social distancing measures for the next 14-day cycle.