Mainland China reported 249 new confirmed coronavirus infections for yesterday, health officials said, up from 224 a day earlier, with a record number of imported cases including dozens among arrivals from Hong Kong, where infections are surging.
Of the new cases, 156 were imported and 93 were locally transmitted, the National Health Commission said this morning.
Among the locally transmitted cases, 32 were in Inner Mongolia, nearly all in its capital of Hohhot, while 30 were in the southern province of Guangdong, including 19 in Dongguan and nine in the city of Shenzhen.
Of the imported cases, 59 were in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, which was the source of 55 cases, according to the provincial health authority.
The commercial city of Shanghai, a hub for the few international flights remaining under China's aggressive pandemic measures, accounted for 55 imported cases.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does no tclassify as confirmed cases, was 118, up from 109 a day earlier.
The death toll was unchanged at 4,636, with no new deaths. By yesterday, mainland China had confirmed 108,853 cases.
Hong Kong to let some Covid-positive children stay home amid separation fears
Hong Kong authorities said they would allow some children testing positive for Covid-19 to remain at home, rather than being separated from their parents and hospitalised, after a public outcry from families across the city.
Some Hong Kong families had despaired over strict Covid rules that saw even toddlers in some cases taken away from their parents and isolated, prompting some families to leave the city.
Hong Kong long had an enviable record in suppressing the coronavirus with a "dynamic zero" Covid policy, in line with that on mainland China, but as an Omicron wave now overwhelms the city, the steps that saved lives are making life unbearable for many of its 7.4 million people.
Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said that not all Covid-positive children would be required to go to hospital.
"In general, confirmed children in stable condition can rest at home. If there is medical need for hospitalisation, they will be arranged to receive treatment and care in the paediatric isolation facilities in public hospitals," the authority said in a statement.
It said it would seek to allow parents or caregivers who also test positive to enter the same wards, but that this might not always be possible given "seriously overloaded" paediatric isolation facilities in public hospitals.
As it battles the surge in cases, Hong Kong has scrambled to further ramp up its construction of isolation and treatment facilities.
Local hospitals have been inundated with new cases. Universal testing is to be rolled out later with support from China.
The logistical challenges have prompted authorities to announce plans for simplified procedures that will allow those testing positive with rapid tests to report their results without undergoing more stringent nucleic acid testing.
Hong Kong officially does not allow people to self-isolate, although thousands have been doing so as infections rise faster than new rooms become available.
Meanwhile, concerns have grown for a spread of the virus in Hong Kong's nursing homes for the elderly, with 420 or over half of the city's such facilities now battling outbreaks. The rate of vaccinations among Hong Kong's elderly has been relatively low, and many suffer from chronic illnesses.
