HONG KONG, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) on Saturday reported six new COVID-19 cases and all were imported infections.

This is the first time in more than four months that no local cases were recorded in Hong Kong. The new cases were from India, the Philippines, Pakistan and Indonesia. The total tally was taken to 11,445, according to the CHP.

Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said on Saturday that although in the past month the epidemic situation in Hong Kong has become volatile again, it is gratifying to note that by continuously enhancing anti-epidemic measures, Hong Kong has successfully contained the spread of the virus in a short period of time.

Lam said the number of COVID-19 cases quickly came down to low levels in recent days and the virus variants that are plaguing the world have not entered the local community, hoping that the public can participate in the vaccination program more actively so as to build an immune barrier for Hong Kong as soon as possible.

Hong Kong launched a COVID-19 vaccination program on Feb. 26. A total of 429,500 people had received their first dose of vaccine as of March 26.

The HKSAR government announced on Saturday evening the initial investigation results regarding the packaging defects of BioNTech vaccine, saying there is no evidence indicating any safety risks of the BioNTech vaccines delivered to Hong Kong (batch no. 210102 and 210104) and people who have received the vaccines need not worry.

For the sake of prudence and as a precautionary measure, the HKSAR government announced on March 24 the suspension of BioNTech vaccination after being notified that there were problems with the vaccine's vial caps.

According to the investigations done by Fosun Industrial Co. Ltd. and German manufacturer BioNTech, so far it is not ruled out that the problem was caused by environmental factors during long-haul transportation.

The HKSAR government is actively following up with Fosun and BioNTech to strive to complete the investigation procedures within a week, and will also keep close liaison with the supplier on the supply of the remaining doses of vaccine, with a view to ensuring that implementation of the vaccination program in Hong Kong can be continued, said a press release of the HKSAR government Saturday. Enditem

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