Hong Kong reports 9 new imported COVID-19 cases

HONG KONG, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported nine new imported cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, taking the total tally of confirmed cases to 12,589.

Six of the cases involved mutant strains while the mutation test results of the remaining three cases are pending. The patients comprise three males and six females, aged 19 to 57.

A total of 97 cases have been reported in the past 14 days. One of them is an import-related case, while the rest are imported cases, according to the CHP.

Since the launch of the government inoculation program in late February, around 4.85 million people or 72.1 percent of the eligible population have taken at least one shot of the vaccine, while over 4.63 million or 68.8 percent of the eligible population are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, a total of 344,983 people have taken the booster shot in Hong Kong as of 8:00 p.m. local time Saturday.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government expects the third-dose vaccination to cover about 1.86 million people.