(Hong Kong) Hong Kong’s Chief Executive said on Tuesday that a total lockdown of the city, similar to what is being done in China, will not be implemented to stem the unprecedented wave of Omicron variant contamination.
Posted at 0:38
Since the start of the pandemic, Hong Kong has adhered to mainland China’s “zero COVID-19” policy.
But since the appearance at the end of December of the first cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant, the number of contaminations has skyrocketed and screening, quarantine and hospital capacities are overwhelmed.
To date, no country in the world except China has managed to return to zero cases of COVID-19 after cases of the Omicron variant emerged.
To achieve this goal, the Chinese government confines entire cities as soon as a first case appears, prohibiting residents from leaving their homes.
“We have no plans to impose a full and general lockdown on the city of Hong Kong,” she told a news conference.
She, however, ruled out calls from some experts and business figures to shift from a zero-COVID-19 policy to a mitigation strategy.
“We must continue to fight this battle against the epidemic. Laying down arms against the virus is not an option.
The authorities intend to continue to confine certain districts, the time to screen all the inhabitants of the buildings where cases have been recorded, she specified.
Like mainland China, Hong Kong has maintained a very low level of contamination thanks to draconian entry restrictions, case tracing and massive screening.
But with more than 2,000 cases recorded on Monday, and more than a thousand at the end of last week, the zero-COVID-19 policy is under severe strain.
Hong Kong researchers have estimated that the number of daily cases could exceed 28,000 by the end of March.
Prior to the current surge, Hong Kong was placing those who tested positive in solitary confinement in dedicated facilities, but beds in hospitals and a large temporary facility have reached peak occupancy.
An AFP photographer saw patients lying on stretchers outside a hospital in the Yuen Long district on Tuesday.
People considered to be contact cases are now invited to isolate themselves at home.
Mme Lam said 3,000 newly built social housing units will be used to place people in quarantine and that she is looking to add 10,000 hotel rooms to this arrangement.
Last week, huge queues formed outside testing centers and many people who tested positive said they had been turned away from hospitals.