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

HONG KONG, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported seven additional cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total number of Omicron infections to 41.

After investigations on seven imported cases announced on Dec. 20 and Dec. 22, the CHP confirmed that the infected people, three males and four females aged between 18 and 61, all carried the highly contagious Omicron strain.

The CHP also reported five additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, taking the total tally to 12,555.

The newly reported cases involve four imported cases and an import-related case, comprising two males and three females aged 20 to 64.

The import-related case involves a 64-year-old man, who is a cleaner at a designated toilet solely for use by preliminary positive imported patients confined at a designated area at Hong Kong International Airport while waiting for transfer to hospital.

A total of 72 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, around 4.85 million people, or 72 percent of the eligible population, have taken at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, with over 4.62 million, or 68.7 percent of the eligible population, having taken two doses.

Meanwhile, a total of 331,352 people have taken the booster shot in Hong Kong as of 7:00 p.m. local time Thursday.