Hong Kong reports 7 more cases of Omicron COVID-19 variant

HONG KONG, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported seven additional cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of Omicron infections to 34.

After investigations on seven imported cases announced on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21, the CHP confirmed that the infected people, six males and one female aged between 29 and 61, all carried the highly contagious Omicron strain.

The CHP also reported seven more imported cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the total tally to 12,548.

The newly reported cases involve mutant strains and are three males and four females, aged 22 to 61.

A total of 70 cases have been reported in the past 14 days and all were imported, according to the CHP.

Since the launch of the government inoculation program in late February, over 4.84 million people, or 71.9 percent of the eligible population, have taken at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, with over 4.61 million, or 68.6 percent of the eligible population, having taken two doses.

Meanwhile, a total of 320,648 people have taken the booster shot in Hong Kong as of 7:00 p.m. local time Tuesday.