Health officials said on Thursday that the increasing Covid tally is expected, as they reported 1,179 more infections.

1,085 of the cases were locally transmitted. 423 of them were identified in laboratories while 622 were self-test results confirmed by authorities.

No new Covid-related deaths have been recorded.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said 113 new cases were reported among schools, involving 83 students and 30 staff.

Cannan Kindergarten at Charming Garden has been asked to suspend one of its K1 classes, after three students came down with the virus.

The CHP's Albert Au said as social distancing measures are being scaled back, he expects the daily caseload to remain at current levels.

"We expect the trend to continue for some time, the main reason is that we are returning to normalcy and social distancing measures are being relaxed gradually. When we have returned to a normal life, we would go out to restaurants. When cases and transmission chains exist in the community, we expect more cases. We will pay close attention to the situation, we certainly don't want to see an exponential growth," he said.

Au added that authorities have updated questions on the online self-reporting platform for Covid patients, asking those infected whether they share the same toilet with their family members.

If they do, their family members will have to be sent to Penny's Bay for isolation.

"We would pay attention to the address submitted by the patient. So if we understand there's only one toilet for most of the households in the building, then we would do more investigation... If it is found that they only have one toilet at home, they would be sent to a quarantine centre," he said.

"We hope the public can give us a truthful report, if there are any suspicions, we would follow up."

The government announced on Tuesday that families of Covid patients who are unable to properly isolate at home will be sent to quarantine facilities along with the infected person.

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USEFUL LINKS
General Covid-19 situation: https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/
Covid-19 testing: https://www.communitytest.gov.hk/en/
Community Clinics for Covid-19 patients: https://bit.ly/3a4BZFE
RAT reporting platform: https://www.chp.gov.hk/ratp/
Vaccination programme: https://www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/sen/
Vaccination pass scheme: https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/vaccine-pass.html
Hotline for Covid-positive patients: 1836 115