Experts said recent outbreaks in care homes are worrying, warning people to be aware of general hygiene and parents to seek medical help, especially for cases in children that follow by the syndrome. File photo /AfriHKa news.
Hong Kong Scientific Committee chairman on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Professor Lau Yu-lung said on Saturday on a radio that health surveillance data revealed that Covid-19 had gone up in recent weeks.
The professor said the recent outbreaks in care homes are worrying as there were seven outbreaks from the end of July to early August, involving 60 patients.
In addition, the Centre for Health Protection also reported that from the 4th of August to the 9th of the same month, four outbreaks in which 29 people were infected occurred at care homes for the elderly and other institutions.
In a separate report from the government last week, 20 patients aged 47 to 94 in the infirmary unit for Grantham Hospital also tested positive for the coronavirus on July 31.
Professor Lau stated that dense and crowded living environments and poor air circulation could be the cause of the outbreaks. He added that patients with chronic illnesses admitted for long-term should receive COVID-19 booster shots, while the public should maintain good personal hygiene.
The centre said on Thursday that the latest surveillance data recorded between July 28 and August 3 showed that the overall local activity of the virus had continued to increase since June.
Among the 7,710 respiratory specimens collected by the centre, 699 tested positive for Covid-19 compared with 709 the week before that.
The number of severe coronavirus cases, including fatal ones, reached 19 over the same period, compared with 20 during the previous seven-day period.
He said he believed the results for the centre’s viral load testing for sewage water had already peaked, dropping from 537,000 copies per litre between July 21 and 27 to 450,000 a week after.
He said that according to the World Health Organization, 45,000 COVID-19 cases were recorded in Europe over the past seven days, compared with 4,500 in the western Pacific region, where Hong Kong is located.
“The population in the western Pacific region is much larger than Europe,” he said.
“It shows that the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Europe is far worse than that of Hong Kong.”
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, MIS is a rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19 which causes inflammation among various internal and external body parts, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes and the gastrointestinal tract.
The main risk factor for developing the syndrome was being infected with COVID-19, but many affected children had no or few symptoms of the coronavirus, the US body said.
Trends of multisystem inflammatory syndrome cases usually followed COVID-19 infections, with its peaks often emerging about a month after coronavirus cases had topped out.
An official in the same radio programme said the cases in Hong Kong were patients mostly aged eight to 10 years old, with their syndromes triggered by Covid-19 infections.
Previously, there were 80 to 90 cases found in Hong Kong and it had been quiet for a long time, he added.
However, in the recent two to three weeks, three cases were reported in different hospitals including public and private ones and it is quite unusual, officials said.
The official said children affected by the syndrome had fevers for a long period and suffered from rashes, red eyes and lips, inflammation in organs including the liver, as well as an increased inflammation level in blood.
He urged parents to seek medical help for their children as soon as possible if they were affected by the syndrome, warning that delayed treatment could lead to heart problems.
外籍人士表示，隨著全球病例的增加，香港療養院和醫院的 Covid-19 疫情爆發創紀錄
香港疫苗可預防疾病科學委員會主席劉宇龍教授週六在電台表示，健康監測數據顯示，最近幾週Covid-19上升。
這位教授表示，最近養老院爆發的疫情令人擔憂，從 7 月底到 8 月初，共發生了 7 起疫情，涉及 60 名患者。
此外，衛生防護中心亦通報，8月4日至同月9日期間，安老院等機構共發生4起疫情，共29人感染。
在政府上週的另一份報告中，自7月31日以來，葛量洪醫院醫務室有20名年齡在47歲至94歲之間的患者的冠狀病毒檢測呈陽性。
劉教授表示，居住環境密集、擁擠以及空氣流通不良可能是疫情爆發的原因。 他補充說，長期住院的慢性病患者應接受Covid-19加強注射，而民眾應保持良好的個人衛生。
該中心週四表示，7月28日至8月3日記錄的最新監測數據顯示，自6月以來，該病毒在當地的整體活動持續增加。
在該中心收集的 7,710 份呼吸道樣本中，有 699 份 Covid-19 檢測呈陽性，而前一周為 709 份。
同期，包括死亡在內的嚴重冠狀病毒病例數達 19 例，而前 7 天期間為 20 例。
劉說，他相信該中心的污水病毒載量測試結果已經達到峰值，從7月21日至27日期間的每公升537,000份下降至7月27日之後一周的450,000份。
他說，根據世界衛生組織的數據，過去 7 天歐洲記錄了 45,000 例 Covid-19 病例，而香港所在的西太平洋地區則有 4,500 例。
「西太平洋地區的人口比歐洲多得多，」他說。
“這表明歐洲的Covid-19大流行情況比香港嚴重得多。”
據美國疾病管制與預防中心稱，MIS 是一種與Covid-19 相關的罕見但嚴重的疾病，會導致身體各個內部和外部部位發炎，包括心臟、肺、腎臟、大腦、皮膚、眼睛和胃腸道道。
美國機構表示，這種綜合症的主要風險因素是感染 Covid-19，但許多受影響的兒童沒有或很少有冠狀病毒的症狀。
多系統發炎症候群病例的趨勢通常在 Covid-19 感染之後出現，其高峰通常在冠狀病毒病例達到高峰後一個月左右出現。
同一廣播節目的官員表示，香港的病例大多是 8 至 10 歲的患者，他們的綜合症是由 Covid-19 感染引發的。
他補充說，此前香港發現了80至90例病例，並且已經沉寂了很長時間。
然而，官員表示，最近兩到三週內，包括公立和私立醫院在內的不同醫院報告了三起病例，這是很不尋常的。
官員稱，受該綜合徵影響的兒童會出現長時間發燒、皮疹、眼睛和嘴唇發紅、肝臟等器官發炎、血液發炎程度升高的症狀。
他敦促父母如果孩子受到這種綜合症的影響，請盡快為他們尋求醫療幫助，並警告說，延遲治療可能會導致心臟問題。
Source: SCMP
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