Hong Kong recorded 103 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as the city saw the growth of several infection clusters related to dance parties, a construction site and a center for people with disabilities.

It was the second time in a week that the city posted more than 100 new daily cases. On Sunday, 115 new cases were confirmed.

Wednesday’s figure included 97 locally infected patients. Of these, 13 had contracted the virus from a dance party cluster that has so far resulted in 567 cases, said Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection.

Meanwhile, a construction site at Tseung Kwan O’s Lohas Park saw 14 more workers and two of their relatives test positive, bringing the cluster’s total to 19. Infections jumped by 39 cases to a total of 41 from Fong Shu Chuen Day Activity Centre and Hostel, a facility for people with disabilities.

Another 70 people showed positive results in preliminary tests, including two patients and a medical worker at United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong, Chuang said. Another individual had undergone dialysis treatment on Nov. 24 in a ward adjacent to a COVID-19 patient at Hong Kong Sanatorium Hospital in Happy Valley.

As the fourth wave of COVID-19 spreads across the city, 500 beds and 20 negative pressure wards have been added to makeshift medical facilities at AsiaWorld-Expo on Lantau Island that will start receiving patients on Thursday, said Hospital Authority Chief Manager Dr. Lau Ka-hin.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan told legislators on Wednesday that the earliest time for Hongkongers to receive COVID-19 vaccines would be the middle or latter part of next year, based on World Health Organization estimates.

Priority would be given to a group of 3 million people that includes medical workers, elderly people, chronic patients and care institution workers, Chan said.

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