People wearing face masks walk on a footbridge in Central, Hong Kong, on Dec 29, 2020. (LO PING FAI / XINHUA)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong on Wednesday reported 54 confirmed COVID-19 cases as four more residents died of the disease. More than 50 preliminarily positive cases were also logged the same day. 

Of the newly confirmed cases, 47 were locally transmitted and the origin of 13 remained unknown, Chuang Shuk-kwan, who heads Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said

Of the newly confirmed cases, 47 were locally transmitted and the origin of 13 remained unknown, Chuang Shuk-kwan, who heads Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, told reporters.

The latest count pushed the city's total confirmed cases to 8,778, with 146 related deaths.

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A 79-year-old woman who was admitted to hospital on Dec 18, a 59-year-old woman admitted on Dec 5, and a 63-year-old man admitted on Nov 27 succumbed to COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, Hospital Authority’s Chief Manager Sara Ho said at the same briefing. In a separate statement issued shortly afterwards, Hospital Authority confirmed the death of an 89-year-old terminally ill woman at United Christian Hospital. She was admitted there on Dec 24.

As health authorities tightened mandatory testing rules for residential buildings, more than 40 buildings were expected to be added onto the list soon, Chuang said.

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A new cluster emerged at a Star Seafood Restaurant branch in San Po Kong where at least three workers were confirmed infected, Chuang said.

Asked whether the fourth wave had passed its peak, Chuang said: “The figures seem to be slipping now, though slowly. We are worried about the gatherings over the past Christmas holidays, because new patients over the past two days were found to have had gatherings from Dec 24 to 26. … There are chances that the daily caseload will rebound, if there are super spreaders in the gatherings.”

The seven imported cases involved three arrivals from the United States, two from the United Kingdom and two from Indonesia.

Starting Jan 5, Hong Kong residents will have to book a quarantine hotel before entering Shenzhen, in addition to acquiring a negative test result issued within the past 24 hours of journey, Shenzhen authorities notified Tuesday night

Separately, starting Jan 5, Hong Kong residents will have to book a quarantine hotel before entering Shenzhen, in addition to acquiring a negative test result issued within the past 24 hours of journey, Shenzhen authorities notified Tuesday night. The online reservation window opened on Wednesday morning. 

The pre-booking criterion does not apply to those exempted from quarantine for performing essential official and business duties as well as cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers.

Cross-boundary travelers can get tested at any of the city’s 19 community testing centers, where professional swab sampling is offerd for more than 20,000 residents per day.

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Specimen collection at the airport, as well as that required mandatorily by the government, has been mostly done through professional swab sampling of combined nasal and throat swab to ensure specimen integrity, Food and Health Bureau said in a statement.

In future, even inbound travelers from overseas will have their samples collected by professionals at designated quarantine hotels. 

In another development, the Housing Authority (HA) finished inspecting drainage pipes of about 100,000 flats in the city, involving 1,200 domestic blocks of about 230 public housing estates and deemed the condition of most pipes to be satisfactory.

In a statement issued on Tuesday night, HA said it expects to complete inspection of remaining 300 public housing blocks by end-March 2021.

Currently, HA is inspecting pipes at Choi Wan (II) Estate Fung Chak House in Wong Tai Sin where three residents were found infected and four samples of sewage came back as positive.

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With the New Year’s Day around the corner, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department appealed to people to respect restrictions when celebrating at public places.