Hong Kong reports 7 new COVID-19 cases

HONG KONG, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported seven cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, taking the tally in Hong Kong to 11,858.

Of the newly reported cases, six were imported and one was a local infection involving a 53-year-old woman, the mother of the case reported on Saturday that contracted the mutant strain of N501Y.

Laboratory test results showed that the woman carried the N501Y mutant strain but not the L452R or E484K mutant gene. She has not received COVID-19 vaccination, the CHP said.

Hong Kong launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive on Feb. 26 and more than 2.59 million doses have been administered so far. Some 1.5 million people or about 22.9 percent of the eligible population have taken at least one shot of the vaccine, including more than 1.09 million people fully vaccinated.

Matthew Cheung, chief secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, said the HKSAR government launched the "Early Vaccination for All" campaign to encourage the public to get vaccinated so that an immune barrier could be built as soon as possible.

Secretary for Food and Health of the HKSAR government Sophia Chan said that when the vaccination rate is not high enough, complete relaxation of social distancing measures will easily lead to a resurgence of the epidemic.

Since the variant strains are also more contagious, this may lead to more serious situations, she added.