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Eighteen AIDS cases were reported in the same period leading to a total number of 263 confirmed cases.
Heterosexual contact remains the major route of transmission, accounting for 69% and 62% of the sexually acquired cases in the first quarter and the cumulative total respectively.
A significant proportion of the reported cases are diagnosed in symptomatic AIDS patients. Of the 18 AIDS cases reported in the first quarter, 15 (83.3%) are new HIV infection reported in the same quarter.
The proportion of HIV infection found at AIDS diagnosis were 64.7% and 46.2% in the last quarter of 1996 and the first quarter last year.
Of the 821 HIV-infected, 414 acquired the infection through heterosexual and 252 through homosexual or bisexual sex; 16 were injecting drug users; four were mother-to-child transmission around the time of birth; and 66 acquired the infection through contaminated blood or blood products before 1985 when HIV antibody test and safe heat treated clotting concentrates were not available.
As for the remaining 69, the information available was inadequate for classification.
End
April issue of HK Monthly Digest of Statistics on sale
Two feature articles entitled "Inward direct investments in Hong Kong" and "Trend of public transport passenger journeys" are published in the April 1997 issue of the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics, which is now on sale.
Over the past decades, inward direct investments have been playing an important role in shaping the economic development of Hong Kong. Inward direct investments are important not only in terms of inflow of capital but also the resultant technology transfer, which helps Hong Kong's manufacturing industries remain competitive in the world market. Furthermore, with the development of Hong Kong into a financial and business centre in the Asia Pacific Region by the late 1980s, inward direct investments have been growing at a rapid pace in the service sectors.