HK sees 17 new infections, tally reaches 273

Hong Kong recorded 17 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the tally to 273. Another 20 people were initially tested positive.

All but two of the 37 cases have travel history during the incubation period, or having had close contacts with confirmed patients, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health.

Of the 37 new cases, six were students returning from overseas. Seven were among a 31 members tour group that returned from Canada on March 17.

Meanwhile, six latest cases were related to a local wedding banquet held in a hotel in Discovery Bay on March 14. Previously three people who attended the banquet were confirmed to have contracted the disease.

Another two patients diagnosed to have been infected were members of a karate team that returned to Hong Kong after training in Europe.

The youngest new patient is a 20-month-old baby whose parents were both infected.

Also on Saturday, three coronavirus patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the number of recoveries to 101.

Commenting on the mix up of four samples taken from airport arrivals, Hospital Authority Chief Manager (Clinical Effectiveness and Technology Management) Linda Yu stressed that the authority will review and streamline the workflow to ensure the accuracy of test reports.

In a press release, the HA said that the routine double check of the test samples in the early morning on Saturday showed the results of four specimens collected on Friday evening differed from those of the preliminary tests.