XN000022-1996-07-30 — Page 12

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HIV/AIDS situation in second quarter

A total of 38 persons were found to be positive for the HIV Antibody Test in the second quarter of 1996, the Department of Health announced today (Tuesday). This brings the number of HIV infected persons in Hong Kong to 702.

Twenty-six new AIDS cases were reported during the same period.

The total number of confirmed AIDS cases is 214.

Of the 702 HIV-infected, 336 acquired the infection through heterosexual sex and 231 through homosexual or bisexual sex; 14 were injecting drug users; three were mother-to-child transmissions 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 52, the information available was inadequate for classification.

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Operator and manager of unlicensed guesthouses fined

The operator and manager of two guesthouses were fined a total of $45,000 today (Tuesday) at the San Po Kong Magistracy after pleading guilty to operating or managing unlicensed guesthouses in Kowloon Tong.

The guesthouses at ground floor and second floor, 1 Rutland Quadrant, with their certificates of exemption expired, had been reminded by officers of the Home Affairs Department's Licensing Authority to cease operation until a licence was issued to them.

However, when the officers conducted a two-day operation in December last year against unlicensed guesthouses catering mainly for local people, they found these guesthouses were in operation without a licence.