HONG KONG reported 140 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday, taking the total tally to 13,286, according to data from the Center for Health Protection.

The newly reported cases consist of 15 imported cases, 112 cases epidemiologically linked with imported cases, four local cases and nine cases epidemiologically linked with local cases.

Among the new reported cases, 133 involve mutant strains, the mutation test results of six cases are pending, while the viral load of the remaining case is insufficient for mutation tests, the center said.

Meanwhile, the whole genome sequencing analysis of 16 cases announced earlier confirmed that they all carried the Omicron variant of COVID-19, bringing the total number of Omicron infections to 533 in Hong Kong.

Taiwan yesterday reported 51 new cases, among which 15 are local infections and 36 are imported, the island’s disease monitoring agency told a press briefing.

Among the local cases, eight were reported in the city of Kaohsiung, four in Yilan County and three in Taoyuan City, the agency said.

In light of the recent rise in local infections, the disease monitoring agency has announced a two-week extension of the current Level-2 COVID-19 alert to Feb. 7.

Stringent anti-epidemic rules have also been announced. Starting Monday, visits to hospitalized patients or people in long-term residential care facilities will be banned unless for emergency.

To date, Taiwan has confirmed 18,376 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 14,918 locally transmitted infections.

(Xinhua)