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As a new epidemic of Covid-19 sweeps throughout Asia, health officials in Singapore and Hong Kong, two heavily populated cities, have warned that the number of cases is on the rise.

The director of the city’s Center for Health Protection’s Communicable Disease Branch, Albert Au, told the media this week that the virus’ activity in Hong Kong is now “quite high.” According to Au, the proportion of respiratory samples in Hong Kong that tested positive for COVID-19 recently hit its highest level in a year.

According to the center’s statistics, the week ending May 3 saw 31 serious instances, the most in about a year. Infection maxima during the last two years have not yet been matched by the rebound. In the metropolis of more than 7 million people, the virus seems to be aggressively spreading, as shown by the increasing viral load detected in sewage water and the number of hospitalizations and medical consultations linked to COVID-19.

In the meantime, Singapore’s state health ministry reported this month that the number of Covid-19 cases increased by 28% to 14,200 in the week ending May 3 compared to the previous seven days, while daily hospitalizations increased by about 30%. This is the city-state’s first update on infection numbers in nearly a year.

According to Singapore’s health ministry, there is no proof that the circulating variations are more contagious, however experts speculate that the rise in instances may have been caused by factors including declining population immunity.

The increase in two of Asia’s most important cities coincides with the growth of Covid-19 across the area in recent months, with waves of the now-endemic illness regularly increasing in size. Health officials have reminded high-risk persons to receive booster doses and urged everyone to renew their immunizations.

In contrast to most respiratory diseases, COVID-19 has returned as summer approaches in the northern hemisphere, demonstrating that the virus may still infect a sizable portion of the population during hot weather.