Hong Kong reports 124 new COVID-19 cases

HONG KONG, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong reported 124 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours on Tuesday, taking the total tally to 13,519, according to data from the Center for Health Protection.

The newly reported cases consist of 30 imported cases, 78 cases epidemiologically linked with imported cases, six local cases, and 10 cases epidemiologically linked with local cases.

The center said 112 of the cases involve mutant strains, and the mutation test results of 12 cases are pending. The patients comprise 76 males and 48 females, aged one to 83.

Meanwhile, the whole genome sequencing analysis of 23 cases announced earlier confirmed they all carried the Omicron variant of COVID-19, bringing the total number of Omicron infections to 556 in Hong Kong.

Since the launch of a mass inoculation program in February 2021, about 5.28 million people, or 78.4 percent of the eligible population in Hong Kong, have taken at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while over 4.76 million, or 70.7 percent of the eligible population, have taken two doses.

Meanwhile, 836,585 people in Hong Kong have taken their third booster shot as of 8:00 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) Tuesday.