Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) yesterday said that she would not impose a mainland China-style hard lockdown as the territory faces its worst COVID-19 outbreak to date, even as she vowed no switch to living with the coronavirus.
The comments came as hospitals began to buckle under the strain of rising infections, with at least two medical facilities placing patients in beds outside their entrances.
No place in the world has managed to return to zero COVID-19 cases after such an outbreak except China, which has imposed citywide lockdowns and mass stay-at-home orders when even a handful of cases are detected.
Photo: Bloomberg
Lam ruled out that approach.
“We have no plans whatsoever to impose a complete, wholesale lockdown,” she told reporters.
However, she also rejected calls from some public health experts and business figures to switch to a mitigation strategy, saying “zero COVID-19” remained her administration’s goal.
“We have to continue to fight this anti-epidemic battle. Surrendering to the virus is not an option,” Lam said.
Authorities would continue to use smaller-scale district lockdowns, with testing of all residents in housing blocks where cases are detected, she said.
For more than two years, Hong Kong has followed China’s strategy, pursuing zero COVID-19 cases with largely closed borders, lengthy quarantines, contact tracing and stringent social distancing regulations, but the new outbreak fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has battered the territory’s capacity for testing, quarantine and treatment, and is testing the policy like never before.
More than 1,600 new daily infections were reported yesterday after the figure hovered above 1,000 for much of last week. Local researchers have warned that new daily cases could exceed 28,000 a day by next month.
Before this outbreak, Hong Kong treated all COVID-19 patients in dedicated isolation wards, but beds at hospitals and a temporary mass treatment facility near the airport have quickly filled up.
Close contacts of COVID-19 cases were earlier sent to a government quarantine camp, but many are now being told to isolate at home.
Lam said 3,000 apartments in newly constructed public housing blocks would be converted for quarantine use and that officials are seeking 10,000 hotel rooms as well.
Hong Kong Chief Secretary John Lee (李家超) yesterday said that he would self-isolate at home “for prudence’s sake” after a domestic helper working at his home was found to be a preliminary positive case.
Last week saw long lines of people waiting to get tested, and many who tested positive reported being turned away from hospitals.
Hong Kong has sourced 100 million rapid test kits and is to distribute 1 million a day to high-risk individuals once they arrive, Lam said.
Hong Kong imports most of its food from mainland China, and vegetable prices spiked last week due to supply disruption.
Lam yesterday said that her administration was recruiting more cross-border drivers and was looking into waterborne freight.
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