Hong Kong's COVID-19 situation is worsening, with severe and death cases nearly doubling.

Hong Kong's COVID-19 situation is worsening, with the number of severe and death cases reported in the past week nearly doubling compared to the previous week.

According to Asia Pacific Chinese Television News, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) in Hong Kong pointed out that the positivity rate of respiratory samples and the level of virus detected in sewage have exceeded the highest levels recorded over the past year.

Among these findings, the latest sewage monitoring data shows that the prevalence of the XDV variant — a strain related to JN.1 — is on the rise in the region.

The Centre also stated that from the 27th of last month to the 3rd of this month, more than 970 respiratory samples tested positive for COVID-19 — an increase of nearly 16% compared to the previous week.

In addition, there were 31 cases of severe illness and deaths preliminarily linked to COVID-19, which represents a doubling compared to the previous week.