HKSAR gov't urges public to stay vigilant against COVID-19

HONG KONG, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam urged the public on Wednesday to keep vigilant against the COVID-19 outbreak despite the recently declining number of confirmed cases.

Lam told a press conference that the number of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong decreased from more than 14,000 cases recorded on March 21 to 3,254 cases on Tuesday, noting that it is a good trend that the numbers reported through nucleic acid tests and rapid antigen tests (RAT) are very close.

Lam said the public might be relieved to see the number of COVID-19 cases on the decline, but in terms of absolute figure, the number now is still very high throughout Hong Kong's two-year fight against COVID-19, as the highest daily count of COVID-19 cases was less than 150 before the fifth wave of the pandemic.

She added that data showed an increased number of people participating in outdoor activities recently and reminded the public to comply with social distancing measures.

Lam urged all people in Hong Kong again to do an RAT for COVID-19 each day on April 8-10.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong registered 1,489 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 1,288 additional cases through self-reported rapid antigen tests, official data showed.